Please Excuse My Heart Confused
by Nine1
Summary: Tai struggles to find out who he loves, but with his friends driving him crazy and confusing him, it's hard. Future Taito, AU.
1. Bad Day

A/N: I decided to try writing something again. I'm sorry for my absence. My muse left me and I like...lost my creativity and ability to write for a while. I hope this is okay? Tell me what you think after you read it.

This is AU. No mention of digimon, or the Digital World, or anything like that.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. I don't own the characters.

I was supposed to meet him at the restaurant at six. I guess it's understandable that he was pissed off at me when I got there after seven. I tried to tell him I'd had a bit of trouble getting there, but he wouldn't listen. I let him rant a while, then I said he was being PMS-y again and he smacked me. After that I just turned and walked away. I bet he's madder than ever at me for leaving him there like that. I was his ride home, after all. Oh well, it wasn't the first time that had happened.

I'm not a bad friend, really. I just can't stand people complaining about anything at all. If someone even so much as tells me their foot hurts, I get mad. I can't explain it, it's just a thing I have. He knows it better than anyone, yet he still complains sometimes. I just get mad at him sometimes. 

I didn't get there on time because while I was on my way out to meet him, Daisuke barged into my room and started telling me about his day. 

"Tai! Oh my God, you'll never guess what happened to me..."

"Dai, I'm sort of on my way out. Matt-"

"See there was this chick, and I liked her, or I thought she was cute anyways, and she was, like, coming on to me, so I got really happy and started flirting back, right? But then this huge-ass guy comes up all like, 'What are you doing with my little sister?' and I get all defensive and shit, right? So he's pushing me around and I'm defending myself, and she screams and stuff because it's scaring her and all these people come running, and they start saying 'Fight! Fight', so we fight, and during the middle of it, we had to move because this car was coming through and we were in the middle of the road, so I kinda slipped through the crowd to this dumpster in the alley, and I got in, and he was confused like all hell and the girl was giggling because she saw me, and-"

"You have no idea how interested I am and all, Dai, but I've really got to be going now."

"I'm not done yet!"

Dai can ramble on for years if you let him. My hand jerked for the drawer that contained the duct tape but I controlled myself enough to shove Dai out the door and try to make my way to the car. He followed me, continuing his story.

"So this girl's ex-boyfriend shows up in the crowd and the brother sees him talking to his sister, so he starts trying to beat up on _that _dude-"

"Dai, get out of my car!"

"Where are we going?"

"Dai, I'm warning you..."

"You said something about Matt. Are you going to see him? You guys got a date? What-"

"_Dai_! We are not dating!"

"_Sure _you aren't."

"TAI!"

We both turned to look at the front door, where my sister was standing. I stuck my head out the window.

"What?!" I yelled back.

"Sora's on the phone!"

"Tell her I'm leaving!"

"She says it's urgent!"

I sighed and opened my door, muttering. Dai stayed in the car, fiddling with my radio. I grabbed the phone.

"What?"

"I'm dying. I'm on the verge of death. The _verge_, Tai..."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I lost five pounds. That's a lot of weight. I haven't been eating lately because I've been moping over breaking up with Jyou, but I didn't mean to _kill_ myself or anything..."

"I'm still lost. Look, Sora, just pig out and gain the five pounds back, okay? I've got to meet Matt, in...actually, I'm five minutes late already, and you know how Matt gets-"

"PMS-y?"

"Yeah."

"Look, I was just calling to ask you if you can give me a ride to my doctor. I'd like to talk to him about my eating disorder."

"Your what? Sora, you're being a drama queen. You don't have-"

"You never know."

I sighed. I thought about it. The doctor's office was on the way over to the restaurant...Matt wouldn't mind me helping Sora out, would he?

"I'll be right over," I sighed. "Don't move."

"You're an angel, Tai."

I hung up and handed the phone back to Kari. 

"Going to Sora's?" she asked.

I looked at her. "Yeah...she says she's dying, so I'm gonna drop her off at the doctor's."

"Will you give her something for me?"

I sighed. "Yeah, sure. Never mind that I'm now seven minutes late to meet Matt, and he's going to have my balls cut off for this."

She ran off and came back with a book. "Here, give her this, and say hi for me. Take care on the road."

"Yeah, sure. See you."

She smiled slowly at me and leaned against the doorway. "Bye."

I turned and ran for the car. I got in and threw the book onto Daisuke's lap. I did a double take.

"Dai? You're still here?"

He crossed his arms and pouted. "I'm sorry to see you're so disappointed by my being here."

I sighed. "Well, okay, I'll take you with me. Sora will want someone with her at the doctor's. You can go with her."

"Doctor's?" he asked as I pulled out of the driveway and took off for Sora's house.

"She thinks she has an eating disorder," I said, turning the volume of the CD player down to less-than-deafening. 

"She's so weird," Dai said, turning it back up.

I looked at the volume button and sighed. I could never win with Dai.

We got to Sora's in one piece and she was standing in her driveway. Or rather, she was sitting in the middle of it. She stood up as we approached and stopped, and she walked to the car. She did look skinnier than usual. She got into the front instead of in the back like normal people do. Dai was squashed against me, in between us. Sora slammed the door shut and I sped off for the doctor's office.

"I hear you're dying," Daisuke said.

Sora nodded. "Yup. It's sad, really." She traced patterns on the fog on the window.

"You are not dying," I said, gripping the steering wheel tighter than I meant to.

"How do you know? You aren't a doctor," Sora snapped. She pushed against Dai, who pushed against me. 

"Don't do that while I'm driving!" I screeched.

"Okay, okay! Don't freak out," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

She reached for the volume knob, but Dai snarled at her and she withdrew her hand pretty quickly. She began hugging his arm and rubbing her face against his cheek.

"Aw, is Dai-baby having a bad day?"

"The worst," he said with his usual grin.

He began telling her about the girl's brother and the fight and whatnot. She looked like she was sleeping, though she nodded occasionally, rubbing against his face.

We got to the doctor's office. 

"Okay, here's your stop. Dai, go with her."

"What? I thought you were coming with me." Sora pouted.

"I've got to meet Matt, remember?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"Oh, right. Gosh, he must be pissed at you. You're half an hour late."

"Yeah. I know that.  Oh, wait, Sora!  Kari said to give you this."  I handed her the book.

Sora closed the car door and winked at me, smiling. "Thanks for the ride, Tai-baby."

She looped her arm through Daisuke's, and they walked up to the doors, talking. I watched them, shook my head, and began my drive to the restaurant. 

Right when I was going to leave the parking lot, I noticed a car had its emergency lights flashing, parked close to the exit. I realized it was Koushirou's car.

"What the hell?"

I pulled over, sighing, cursing that it had to be someone I knew. If Koushirou saw my car driving past, he'd know it was me, and I'd never hear the end of it.

I got out of the car and walked up to his. He was sitting on the hood, legs pulled up and crossed Indian-style, his head down. He looked up at me and grinned lopsidedly as I sat next to him.

"Car trouble?" I asked lamely. "What's the problem?"

Koushirou laughed. "I work with computers, not with cars. I don't know what the hell is wrong with it."

I slid off and he did the same, and I asked him to pop the hood open. He did, and I took a look at it. I couldn't see what was wrong. 

"Did it just stop?"

I checked the tires.

"Well, when I got back in, it just wouldn't go forward."

I looked it over again. "I can't see what could be wrong with it."

"Yeah, I couldn't either." Koushirou sighed.

I went to the door and pulled it open, getting in. I turned the car on and checked to see if any lights flashed or anything, and then I glanced down at the brakes. I noticed something.

"Hey, Koushy...your parking brake is on."

"What?"

He came around to my side and peered in. "So it is. Must have accidentally pushed it down while I was getting in."

Koushirou laughed and blushed, embarrassed. "Boy, do I feel stupid."

I sighed. "Need anything else?"

"No. Thanks, Tai."

"No problem."

I began walking towards my car. "See you later, Koushy."

He waved and got back into his car.

I once again began driving to the restaurant, hoping nothing else would happen to keep me from reaching my destination.

I was about five miles closer to the restaurant when it happened. I couldn't believe it. I actually hit a bird with my car. I heard it smack my car window and watched it fly off and into the grass at the side. I cursed and pulled over.

I first looked at the little crack in my window, and then went to see if I could find the bird. It was in the middle of the road, so I carried it to the side of the road. It seemed to be dead.

"What kind of a bird flies into a car window? What was it, blind?"

I left it in a grassy area, figuring I couldn't do much else, and I had no time for a bird burial or anything stupid like that. 

I moaned about the crack in my window as I got back into my car and continued on to the restaurant. I finally got there, and I sighed in relief. Then I looked at the clock on the radio of my car and realized it was 6:50.

My cursing got drowned out by the sound of my car honking when I slammed my head down onto the steering wheel.

I frantically looked for a parking space. There was none on the left side of the restaurant. I drove around to the right and saw someone walking to their car. I cheered and edged my car forward to rest to the side of the car they were getting in, giving them plenty of space. They got in the car, and I waited for them to move. They didn't. I tried to see inside of the car, but I couldn't.

"What is she doing, applying all her makeup again?"

The car's reverse lights came on, and I grinned. They started backing out, and then abruptly stopped for a while. My face fell. I was about to honk when they started backing out again, made it out, and began driving away. I waited a few seconds before flipping the car off. I eased into the parking space.

I ran up to the restaurant, threw the door open triumphantly, and almost screamed. The line inside was _huge_. 

By the time it was my turn and I told them someone was waiting for me, it was after seven. I finally got shown to Matt's table and plopped down opposite him.

"I am so sor-"

"Where the _hell _have you been?! I have been waiting for over an hour! I got here early, and I waited so long, and blah blardy blah-"

And I guess you know what happened next. Bitch bitch, moan moan, slap, and I was out of there. 

When I got home, there was a message for me on the answering machine. It was Matt, of course, screaming his head off about what an insensitive jerk I was, leaving him there. He said he'd had to get a ride home from a friend, and did I know what a horrible day he'd been having, and then I don't know what he said because I deleted the message right away.

I went to my room and threw myself down onto my bed. I closed my eyes wearily. This was just not turning out to be a good day.

The phone rang, and I immediately thought it must be Matt, wanting to scream at me some more. I let it ring, and soon Kari knocked at my door, yelling that it was Sora. I sighed and picked up the phone in my room.

"I got it!"

I held it up to my ear. "Hello?"

"_Hey, Tai-baby_."

"Hey, Sora."

"_Guess what? I'm not dying. The doctor said I'd just been stressed lately, and that's why I wasn't getting so hungry and I was feeling tired so much. He said to just try to relax and eat a little junk food, like ice cream, and I should be fine_."

"See? I told you."

She giggled.

"Is Dai still there?" I asked, wrapping the phone cord around my finger.

"_Yeah. So how'd the thing with Matt go_?"

"Horrible. I got there an hour late and he got mad at me and slapped me, so I left him there."

She gasped. "_Tai! That's terrible! You just left him there, with no way home_?"

"He found a ride," I mumbled.

She made a tsk, tsk sound. "_Oh, Tai..."_

"He'll get over it."

"_I know, but it's still mean_."

"_What is_?" I heard Dai ask in the background.

Sora told him about Matt and I heard him laughing his ass off.

"It's not funny," I mumbled.

"_Oh, Tai, stop sulking. Really, it's not like you. Hey, you want me and Dai-baby to go pick you up, and we'll go for some ice cream, just like the doctor ordered? Haha...get it? Doctor ordered_."

"Uh, no thanks, Sora. I'll just lay here on my bed of pain for a while longer."

"_Oh, don't be such a poopy head. We're coming over_."

I couldn't really respond to that because she hung up after that.

I smiled to myself, laying there in the dark. I was glad I had such good friends.

I guessed ice cream didn't sound so bad at the moment after all. I decided to call Matt and apologize after we got back from the ice cream place. I owed him a long explanation. 

~ ~ ~ ~

Well, go ahead and review, you know you want to. And again, sorry for my absence. I don't think I'm going to continue When I Balance Again. Thanks for everyone that read it and liked it, and especially those of you who reviewed. 

By the way, this is going to have Taito in the future, and I'm thinking of adding Yamasuke or Taisuke or something like that later.  There might be Taiora or Daiora or something like that.  Is there a couple you guys would really like to see?


	2. An Invitation

A/N: Here's the second chapter. Forgive me if you think it's moving slowly. I still don't quite have a plan for this fic...I'm sort of letting it write itself for the moment. I'm sure something will come to me sooner or later. 

  
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or the characters I'm using. I don't own JTHM. If you don't know what that is, I feel sorry for you.

I went with them to eat ice cream. I was feeling a little better. Sora offered to pay for me, so I ordered something that wasn't too expensive. We got a booth and Sora and Dai sat across from me. I stared at my ice cream, starting to feel guilty about leaving Matt back at the restaurant. 

"Oh, don't you go doing that depressed thing again," Sora said, slapping my hand to get my attention. 

I looked up at her, my eyes a little wide. 

"I told you, it just doesn't suit the happy Taichi I know so well," she continued.

I laughed wickedly inside myself. Of course she would think that. When I get depressed, no one is around to see it, because I always lock myself up in my room so I can be alone. It had been happening more frequently now. 

I made myself smile for her. 

"Sorry, Sora."

"You gonna eat the rest of that?"

I narrowed my eyes at Daisuke. "Yes."

He withdrew his hand. I dug into my ice cream with my spoon and shoved it into my mouth. Sora had ordered a small cone and was delicately licking it. Daisuke kept asking her if she wanted another one, and she kept politely declining. 

"You know the whole idea of this thing is to get you to pig out?"

"I don't want to pig out on ice cream. I'll pig out with you tomorrow, for dinner."

"You guys having dinner together?"  


They gave me small grins. I rolled my eyes. 

"Don't tell me you have a date."

"It is not a date!"

"Sure, you're just taking her out to eat for fun."

"You're one to talk. Didn't you go out to eat with Matt earlier today?"

That shut me up. After a while, I mumbled, "It's not the same."

They just laughed at me. 

We finally got out of there around nine, and I decided to call Matt as soon as I got home. I raced through the house to my room, shut the door, grabbed my phone, and hit speed dial. He picked up on the third ring, like he always does.

"_Hello_?"

"Don't hang up. It's me. Tai."

I heard him sigh and his bed squeaked, like he was rolling around. 

"_You know me better than that_."

"Still mad at me?"

"_I answered, didn't I_?"

I remembered he had caller I.D. 

"Want to do something tomorrow?"

"_Maybe_."

"Matt, stop being bitchy. Just for one minute, stop it."

I heard him sigh again, but he didn't say anything.

"Matt, I'm really sorry for not showing up on time, and I'm even sorrier for leaving you there, but you have no idea what I went through to get to you. I'll explain everything if you want me to."

"_No, don't. I don't care anymore. Listen, I'm not mad, okay? Let's just forget about today_."

"Yes, I totally agree. Hey, have you noticed Daisuke and Sora getting closer lately?"

"_Sort of. I haven't talked to them or seen them in a while, but I always thought there was something there. Why_?"

"No reason. Just that they're having dinner tomorrow night."

Matt started laughing. "_Daisuke and Sora, having dinner together? Now I _never_ thought _that_ would happen_. _I mean, could you imagine them? 'Sora, honey, could you please be a dear and pass the salt?' Could you imagine Dais saying that_?"

I laughed. "No," I said truthfully.

We laughed together awhile, and things felt normal again. I smiled a real smile again. We talked for another half an hour or so, and then my mom came into my room and told me to take a bath. I reluctantly hung up with Matt and went to shower.

~ ~ ~ ~  


That night I had a weird dream. I dreamt that I was making out with Sora, but something felt weird about it. I had dreamt about doing that before, but before it was sort of blank, like I didn't feel anything at all when I was kissing her. Now, I just felt uncomfortable. She stopped and smiled at me awhile. 

"It doesn't feel good?"

I shook my head truthfully. I watched as she morphed before my eyes into someone even more familiar. He smiled, blue eyes swimming with something I'd never seen before. 

"Better?" The voice was deeper, more passionate, and it made me feel relaxed. 

I didn't reply, so he started kissing me. This time, I felt something that wasn't uncomfortable. It wasn't exactly comfortable either, because I wasn't used to it, or to thinking like that, but it didn't feel wrong. It felt like something I could learn to like doing. I made out with dream-Matt for a while longer, and then I woke up.

I opened my eyes and saw the light of my alarm clock. I leant closer and saw it was three in the morning. I touched my forehead and noticed it felt a little damp, and then I sighed and covered my eyes with my arm. 

"Well, _that_ was unexpected," I whispered to myself. 

A little voice in my head whispered back that I was still lying to myself. I turned to lie on my side and pulled the blanket up over my head. After a while, it got hot, so I pulled it off again and let the cool air from the ceiling fan cool me down again. 

My foot started itching, so I pulled my leg up and reached down to scratch it. After I started, it started itching even more, and soon I was scratching frantically at my skin. I turned the bedside lamp on and pulled my sock off to look at my foot more closely. 

It had started to bleed. 

I frowned, pulling my sock back on. I had to get athlete's foot powder to cure that. I had run out the week before. That was a downside to playing sports. You had to deal with stuff like athlete's foot. 

I stared at a little drop of blood I had gotten on my finger. I sighed and pressed my face against the pillow, letting my hand droop over the side of the bed. I turned the light off and tried to drift off back to sleep, the mental picture of me kissing Matt never leaving my mind.

~ ~ ~ ~

I was sitting in the park again. I went there when I needed to gather my thoughts. I was also there because someone had sent me a note telling me to go there around three o' clock. It only said one other thing.

__

Follow the white rabbit.

It was not signed. 

If I wasn't in a very wondering and curious mood, I'd probably have thrown the note in the trash and shrugged it off as a practical joke. Due to the certain mood I was in at the time that I received and read the note, I was there, sitting on my favorite park bench, looking for any sign of a white rabbit. I felt a little stupid doing that, but it was better than letting my mind wander to other things I didn't want to think of at the time. 

I saw a glimpse of white on pink out of the corner of my eye and a girl's purse caught my gaze. It had a white rabbit on it. I stared, unsure if this was my sign or a mere coincidence, but then the girl carrying the purse glanced back over her shoulder straight at me, caught my eye, and then looked forward again. 

I stood, shoving the note into my pocket, and followed her. 

After about two blocks of following her I got fed up and ran up to walk beside her. 

"Excuse me, but are you the white rabbit?"

She turned and smiled at me.

"So, you're Taichi?"

I nodded. She just smiled and looked forward again. I guessed that was her way of answering me yes. 

"Uh, who are you, and where are you taking me?" I asked bluntly.

"My name is Mimi. Takeru sent for you."

I raised an eyebrow. "Takeru _sent_ for me?"

"Didn't I just say that?" she asked in a singsong voice. She turned and smiled at me to show she was playing.

"Okay, why did he send for me?"

"Did you get the note?"

I gave her an odd look. "I was at the park, wasn't I? I followed you, didn't I? What does Takeru want?"

She held her hand out, I guess for the note, so I took it out of my pocket and placed it on her hand. She closed her hand around it and put it in her purse. 

"Will you please answer me?"

"We're here."

I glanced at the house we'd gotten to. I guessed it was Takeru's house. It was not big, but not small, a light blue house with white trimming. There was a small garden in front. It practically screamed Takeru.

Mimi went right up to the door, opened it, and went in without knocking or ringing the doorbell or anything. I followed her in, closed the door behind me, and took off my coat. 

She had begun walking through the house so I skipped to catch up, and followed her to a room. This time, she knocked on the door.

"Come in," I heard his voice call.

We entered and my eyes widened at the place I'd just walked into. Takeru's room was dark, with heavy dark blue drapes over his window, and three candles spread about the room providing the only light besides the cracks of light around the drapes. There were books on his floor and on his bed, and his carpet was dark gray. There was a dark spot on the carpet in the corner of his room, and I resisted the urge to go over and inspect it. I noticed among the books were comics, and I turned my head to read the title on one of them. JTHM. I wondered what the letters meant, but then Takeru cleared his throat and I looked up at him. He was sitting on top of his black bedsheets, smiling at me, a candle on his lap illuminating some of his face and making his appearance seem eerie. 

"Stop being so dramatic," I said, grinning. 

He stopped smiling and motioned to Mimi, who turned the lights on, making the room seem less odd. I noticed the posters hung around his room now, and I took time looking at each one. Takeru began talking to me, knowing I was still listening. 

"I guess you're wondering why I called you here. I just wanted to tell you that you are invited to a get-together tomorrow night."

"Haven't you heard of the telephone?" I asked him dryly. "Do you have to make everything seem so damned dramatic? Is this the way you're inviting everyone?"

I stopped looking at a poster of a rock band and turned to face him. He was still grinning at me in that knowing way that annoyed me sometimes. He was too perceptive for his own good. He seemed to know everything before anyone else did. 

"No, only you. You're so special to me that I need to lure you into my dungeon to give you this special invitation." His voice dripped sarcasm. I got the message. He was doing this with all of our friends, probably. 

"Who's going?"

"Everyone." Ah, of course, everyone. It's always everyone, isn't it? Why can't people just list names when you ask them who's going somewhere? They just feel the need to say 'everyone', to make it seem like a bigger party than it really is.

I remembered there was someone else in the room. I turned to look over my shoulder at the girl called Mimi. 

"Are you his girlfriend?"

"Don't you think I'd tell you if I got a girlfriend?" Takeru's voice reached me.

I looked back at him. He was still grinning that same damned grin. 

"No," I answered, only half-lying. He shifted on his bed and leant down to poke his finger into the candle wax that was melted into a small puddle around the flame of the candle. I realized I wasn't going to get a straight answer from him anytime during the next century. I stood up and slid off of the bed.

"Well, if that's all you were going to tell me, I'll just be leaving."

He shrugged, not looking up from his candle. I shook my head, walking past Mimi, who followed me with her eyes, grinning. I left his house only slightly more confused than I was when I entered.


	3. Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dancer

A/N: Has anyone but me noticed that around 80% of the shrines out there are to Matt? There are eleven other people to make shrines to, you know. I'd make a few if I could, but unfortunately, I suck with stuff like that, so I stick to writing fanfics. I'm not saying Matt doesn't deserve all those shrines, I'm saying the rest of the characters deserve them, too. Oh well, I'm done with that mini-rant. Enjoy this chapter. A little slow, but lays down little hints for things that will become significant later in the story. (Hint-hint.) 

Note: This chapter is from Matt's POV. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, the characters I use, the song "Tiny Dancer" (Elton John owns it), or the movie Almost Famous (though it is a very good movie). 

The hard wood of the bench was starting to make my back uncomfortable. I shifted a little on my seat and Hikari made a small noise from where she lay with her head on my lap. I settled back again, and my head bumped back into Miyako's. She leant forward and turned around, leaning over the back of her bench and into mine. We were sitting outside of a tattoo and piercing parlor in the mall, on a hard, uncomfortable bench. 

"How long has it been now?"  


"Ten minutes."

She sighed and dropped her arms over the bench to rub Hikari's head. Hikari breathed in and slowly opened her eyes. She gave us a slightly confused look.

"Did I nod off?"

"For a little while."

She sat up, smiling and blushing slightly. "Sorry."

"For what?"

"Using you as a pillow."

I smiled at her. "Don't worry about it. Man, Jyou takes forever."

He had gone in nearly fifteen minutes ago, and he still hadn't returned. As if on cue, the door swung open and Jyou stepped out, looking slightly pale.

"I cannot believe you blackmailed me into doing that."

I grinned at him. "Well, let's see it."

Jyou glared at me. "This is all your fault, Matt. That hurt like hell, you know."

"Of course it did, you're a wimp, now show us."

He reluctantly lifted his shirt and showed us the small bellybutton ring he had just gotten. The three of us burst out laughing at how ridiculous it looked on him. He narrowed his eyes. 

"I'm just glad no one will be able to see it."

"Well, you'll know you have it, and that'll be enough for me."

He shoved his shirt back down and we got up from the benches. I stretched my arms out and then slipped one around Jyou's shoulders. I leant in and whispered to him, "You'll get over it, don't worry. I did."

He blushed slightly and I let him go, smiling. He always blushed when I touched him like that. I have that effect on people. I slid my hands into my pockets and walked alongside Hikari as we made our way to the bookstore next. We went in and Miyako and Jyou went straight to their favorite sections. 

I let Hikari lead me to the poetry section, where she loved to browse for good poetry collections. I leant against the bookrack, sighing. Bookstores never did captivate me the way it did my friends, but I liked it when Hikari read me a very good poem. I was close to Hikari because of how often I went over to her house to see her brother. I was sort of like a second older brother to her, I guess. 

"Are you going to Takeru's party?" she asked me quietly, her eyes still looking over the book spines. 

"Of course I am, he's my brother." 

She turned and smiled at me, actually looking at me. "Taichi's going, too."

"I'd expect him to," I answered easily, even though my heart beat a little faster at the mention of that name. 

She giggled a little at me and shook her head, and I got the weird feeling she knew what I was thinking. When she really got to know you, she started reading your mind as well as your actions like a book. I believe she's secretly clairvoyant, but she denies it. I know better.

"Are you guys almost done?" Miyako asked us, walking into our aisle, carrying two books. Jyou followed shortly behind her, frowning. I knew he hadn't found his book by the look in his eyes.

"Maybe next weekend," I told him, and he smiled slightly at me in understanding.

"Yeah, hold on," Hikari said, selecting a poetry book and pulling it out, clasping it to her chest. "I'm ready."

After we'd paid and were already on our way out of the mall, we started debating where to go to eat. That's when Miyako got a call on her cell phone. It was Sora. Apparently, she, Tai, and Daisuke were somewhere in town and they wanted to get together at a restaurant.

"That sounds fabulous," Miyako told her, smiling. "We'll meet you there. Of course. You too, Sora. Bye."

I chanced a look at Jyou. He was hanging his head. I poked his arm, silently telling him I'd be there with him, and he poked me back, telling me he already knew.

He had been the one to break up with Sora, but that didn't mean he didn't care about her anymore. The past few days had been hard on him, and we'd gotten closer together over it, trying to help each other out. I knew he liked Sora, but he couldn't be with her that way. He knew I loved Tai, but it was a love that was never meant to be. An accident. Then again, isn't all love an accident? Who really means to fall in love with their soulmate?

We got to the restaurant right on time, and we saw our friends just getting out of their vehicle. We waved them over and they followed us in. I fell into step beside Tai. We looked at each other and smiled. 

"So where have you guys been?" Hikari asked Tai from his other side. 

He rubbed the top of her head. "Oh, around. We went to the mall earlier, but then we decided to go shopping downtown. Sora's idea."

"Buy anything?"  


"Some more blank CDs. I need to build my collection."

Tai has a collection of mixed CDs. They're really cool, and very handy when you want something to listen to but are tired of all of your own stuff. 

"What about you?" he asked her.

"Another poetry book."

They shared a smile. They were both collectors of something artistic. Music and poetry went along nicely together. It was one of the things they could talk about for hours at a time, one thing they could always agree on. 

One of the things I could grasp and understand about them, among a sea of things I couldn't. 

"And what did you get, Matt?"  


"Nothing at all. Just the satisfaction of having Jyou surrender to me."

He gave me a questioning look. I smiled and winked at him. "I'll tell you all about it later."

He gave me a what-did-you-do smirk and shook his head slightly. "Ishida, you are amazing."

"Oh, don't make me blush," I told him, sitting down on the chair that I claimed at the table.

We ordered and ate in the usual fashion: delirious.

After we were done, we decided to move around, and I ended up taking Jyou, Tai, and Hikari in my car. I felt more comfortable with them three. I was always such a nervous driver, and I avoided it when I could, but it was my turn, and my car, so I figured it was better with me driving.

As we drove along, Tai slipped his hand into one of his huge pockets, pulled out a CD case, and put the CD in my car's CD player. 

I noticed it was one of the more mellow of Tai's CDs, and I smiled gratefully at him. He was trying to make the driving more bearable. He smiled back and looked forward. Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" began playing. It reminded me of the movie "Almost Famous", and the time we all went to watch it in theatres. As the song played, one by one, we all began singing along.

It was one of those moments that you like to keep in your head for when you feel sad and need to remember something nice. 

I was going to need it later on.

~ ~ ~ ~

A/N: I've always wanted to make Jyou pierce his belly button. And I did! Yay! I like the thought of Jyou and Yamato being good friends. Not as much Tai, Sora, or Dai in this chapter, and I dunno if they're gonna be appearing much in the next chapter, since I think it might be in Matt's POV again. I'm still not sure what I'm gonna do. I might even make it Takeru's POV. Who knows? Well, see you guys in the next chapter.


	4. Twin Souls

A/N: Yes, finally finished this chapter. Sorry for the wait. Hmm...I seem to always be apologizing. Well, I was stuck halfway through this one, but then I watched a movie, and it all laid itself out for me. You'll find out which movie in the next chapter...anyways, I'd like to give a little thanks to the following people for helping me through this chapter, even if they don't know that they did:

Coco Lee and Yo-Yo Ma, for making such beautiful music and inspiring me.

Reep, for everything, forever.

Neil, just for being there and making me smile again.

nEo-cHaN and FireDemon, for staying with me through my difficulties, continuing to read my stories, and continuing to write theirs. You don't know how much it helped.

Note: This chapter is in Matt's POV.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or the characters. 

"It's about time to leave already."

"Okay."

I turned back to the picture on my dresser, gave a small, tight smile, and followed Jyou out of my room. I always felt weird when I turned my back to that picture. It's the only picture I have where my entire family is together and we actually look happy. I don't know why I kept it, but for some reason, I just couldn't let my dad burn that one.

I walked to the door, pulling my hoodie on over my head, and calling to my dad. "Dad, I'm going out. I'll be back before two."

My dad yelled an "Okay" in response. He used to get angry whenever I would just walk out like that, or say I was going to be home any later than midnight, but now he's gotten so used to it that he's become indifferent. Sometimes I think I liked it better when he used to get mad at me. At least then I knew he cared. 

On our way to Takeru's house, Jyou stopped at Sora's. She climbed into the car and shut the door, completely silent. I glanced back at her to make sure she was actually alive.

"Hey," I greeted her.

Her shoulders were hunched up and her hands rested palm-up on her lap, crossed at the wrists. Her knees were drawn up close together, and she was pressing herself against the door. I could barely see her light brown eyes through her reddish-brown shoulder-length hair. I could tell right away that she was uncomfortable.

"Hey," she responded quietly after a few seconds. 

I hadn't talked to her in a long time. I wondered when she had become so sullen. 

"What's up with you?" I asked, raising my eyebrow a bit.

She turned and looked straight past me at Jyou. "Thanks for the ride."

"Yeah."

I glanced at Jyou. He looked tense, too. Soon, I too felt uncomfortable. I hadn't known the breakup had been this bad. 

I turned around and stared out the window at the passing lighted buildings. On any other ordinary night-drive, I would have marveled at them. I've always thought the lights of the city were beautiful at night. Now, they seemed out of place somehow, like the atmosphere was too bright all of a sudden. 

I kept my mouth shut for the rest of the drive, though my hand itched for the button to turn the radio on. After an eternity and a half, we reached Tai's house, and we got out of the stuffy car and rushed up to the house.

Mimi greeted us at the door and led us into the house. We seemed to have arrived a bit late. Everyone else was already there, and the party seemed to be in full swing. 

Takeru was seated on top of the table with the food on it - yes, on top of it - and was talking to Miyako. I walked over to him, said hi, and then decided to look for Taichi. For some reason, I missed him.

I finally found Tai in the kitchen, raiding the refrigerator, which was exactly what I'd expected him to be doing. 

"Hey, Tai, you realize there's already food out there in the living room, right?"  


"Yeah, but Takeru keeps the good stuff in here, saved for himself."

Tai pulled his head out and smiled at me. I smiled back, giving him my special smile reserved for him. He held a bottle of water out to me. 

"I know you don't like to drink coke."

I took the water gratefully and opened it. "Thanks. Who'd you come with?"

"Hikari, Daisuke, and Koushirou. What about you?"

"Jyou and Sora."

"Eek. That must have been traumatizing."

"Somewhat." 

"You should have asked me for a ride."

"I promised Jyou I'd be there for moral support after Sora made him give her a ride. He didn't want to be alone with her."

"Is he getting over it?"  


I smiled slightly. "I think he's starting to. What about her?"

"She's trying to. Like I said, she's doing stuff with Daisuke."

"What kind of stuff?" I asked warily.

"No, nothing like that...at least I don't think. Just going out for dinner and stuff. I'm pretty sure Dai-baby's still a virgin."

"I don't know, Tai...he does take off after you, you know."

"I know, but...hey, just what is that supposed to mean?!"

I smirked and drank more of my water. He pouted at me for a few seconds before getting over it and sipping his coke. I stared at it. I just knew then that he would be getting caffeine-happy later on. 

"Sorry for that comment. I know you're still a virgin."

Tai looked down at the floor and sipped his coke again. I stared at him intently, watching his reaction. When he glanced up, then looked away quickly, I became suspicious.

"You are...aren't you?"

Tai rolled his eyes and grinned at me. "What does that matter? Yes, I am, okay? I am a-hey, Koushirou!"

I turned and looked at Koushirou, eyes slightly wide. 

"You are a what?" the redhead asked, pulling himself up onto the counter next to me. He crossed his legs the way he always did, Indian-style, and looked at Tai intently.

"I am a...pig. Matt caught me raiding Takeru's fridge."

Koushirou grinned, and his hollow black eyes flickered with some unidentified emotion. 

"We all know that, Tai."

Tai stuck his tongue out at him and Koushirou snapped at the air with his teeth. I laughed at them. 

"Are you sleeping over?" 

"It's a sleep-over?"  


"Yeah. Takeru barely told me a minute ago. Apparently, I was supposed to have guessed it before." Koushirou rolled his eyes. "You know Takeru."

"Yeah," Tai and I said simultaneously, and we both rolled our eyes.

"He thinks just because he's psychic, that means we all have to be."

I figured I could call home later and ask Dad to bring me my clothes. I wondered about the sleep-over and who would be staying, and what would happen, for surely _something_ would. Something always happened when we got together.

Jyou walked into the room, smiling at us and walking to lean against the counter next to me. I reached forward and affectionately ran a hand through his hair. I'd gotten him to wear it loose for tonight, so it flowed freely down over his shoulders, a shimmering blue ocean. I'd always thought Jyou was beautiful, but not as beautiful as the one I was in love with. I looked forward at him, and he stared at the hand running through Jyou's hair, and I thought his eyes looked almost jealous. 

"Jealous, Tai?" I teased.

He looked straight at me and grinned sideways. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Tai was a different type of beautiful. Tai had the courage of a lion and twice as much heart. He always appeared to be optimistic and caring, even though I knew he harbored a darkness that we all carried. I had seen it before, but only once or twice. He never let a frown touch his face, in case anyone ever needed to see his smile. I think he could be crying and dying on the inside, but if I was in a bad mood, he'd be smiling as brilliantly as ever and doing anything he could to make me feel better. That was Tai, thinking of everyone before himself.

He had begun giving me a strange look, and I realized I'd been staring at his face the entire time I was musing. I blushed slightly and covered it by looking over at Jyou to grin. 

"Having fun?"

He gave me a dry look. I knew he wasn't. Jyou and I had become so close that we'd gotten to the point where we could read each other's emotions if we only looked into each other's eyes. I enjoy teasing him about things and flirting with him just to see him blush prettily, and it's okay because he knows I don't mean anything by it, and I know he doesn't, either. He's in love with someone, too, and pretty much in the same situation as I am. That's a little part of why we're so close: we can understand each other perfectly. 

The reason we're so close, Jyou and I, is because one night when he was at an all-time low and in desperate need of some sort of attention, he dug out his list of phone numbers (he doesn't like talking on the phone, but he always makes sure he gets everyone's phone numbers down, just in case of an emergency). He just so happened to find mine first and called me immediately, and we ended up talking for twelve straight hours about nearly every topic there is in the world to talk about. I'm not exaggerating, either. The phone has a sort of mechanism that records how long a conversation lasts, and once we'd hung up (because we realized the light outside was the sun rising and we were nodding off too much), the time said 12:34:57. After a conversation like that, it was hard not to become close. We'd bared our souls to each other, without even knowing if we could trust each other that much.

"Matt."

I glanced up at Jyou, blinking slowly. I began to wonder if thinking as much as I did was even healthy. 

"Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts."

He gave me a sort of knowing smile. Koushirou was raising an eyebrow at me. Tai looked sort of worried about something.

"I'd love to analyze you," Koushirou stated, and sipped at his soda, staring at me. I looked at him and grinned.

"Yes, and letting you examine my mind is on the top of my list of things to do."

"Good, because it's going to happen soon."

Something about the way he said it seemed ominous. I gave him an odd look and he merely smiled at me. 

This conversation was getting a little too weird for me. I smiled at them all and politely excused myself, then walked out of the room and down the hall. I remembered I was supposed to call home and tell Dad I was sleeping over, so I walked to the living room.

Takeru was still sitting on top of the table, this time with Daisuke and Sora sitting next to him. He was talking to them about something in a low voice, and when I approached, they all quieted quickly and smiled at me.

"Need something, bro?"

"Can I use your phone?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

I thanked him and walked to the phone. As I walked away, I glanced back at them over my shoulder, and they had huddled together and continued their discussion, sometimes glancing over at me.

I chose to ignore their behavior and dialed home. I asked my dad if he could bring a change of clothes over for me, because I was going to sleep over there, and he said he would and hung up. I set the phone down and stared at it, eyes half-closed. Suddenly, I heard the TV being turned on, and saw that Daisuke, Takeru, and Sora had gotten tired of plotting, or whatever they had been doing, and were trying to decide on a movie to watch.

"I'm telling you, Unbreakable is awesome."

"Yes, it is, but I've seen it already. I haven't seen this one."

"I haven't seen this one, either!"

"Shut up, both of you! We're watching this one!"

They quarreled for awhile as I watched Koushirou walk into the room and go over to pick out a movie from the shelf. He grabbed a DVD, took it out of its package, slipped it into the DVD player, and turn it on. Takeru, Daisuke, and Sora quieted down when they saw a movie was already playing, and the three hopped onto the couch and began watching quietly.

I stared at Koushirou in wonder and he grinned at me and shrugged. I shook my head and walked towards him. I glanced at the three on the couch and then turned to talk to him.

"When did you figure out how to do that?"  


He looked at me. "Really, Matt, how stupid do you think I am?"

I rolled my eyes at him and turned back to see which movie he'd put on. As the music began, I automatically recognized it, and my eyes went a little wide. I stared at the screen as the title came on, and then slowly turned to stare at Koushirou. 

He gave me a sad smile, and his eyes shimmered for a second or two. He turned away and began to walk out of the room, bumping into Jyou in the process. Jyou stood in the doorway, staring at the TV screen, his mouth open. He slowly looked down at Koushirou, who backed away a few steps, staring at the ground. He slowly looked up into Jyou's eyes, and Jyou stared down into his, and then I looked away because I felt like I shouldn't watch something like that. 

I turned and walked to the couch, sat down next to Takeru, scooted close to him, and watched the movie intently, knowing most of it by heart, and listening to the sad-yet-beautiful music playing in the background. 

I knew it all by heart because of how many times I'd listened to it; it was the soundtrack to Jyou's soul.

~ ~ ~ ~  


A/N: And I promise that the ending of this chapter will be explained in the next chapter. Yay, my story is taking on some sort of direction! (Unless I change my mind AGAIN and decide to do something completely different.) Thanks all of you who have stayed with me throughout the story, and I'd love it if you reviewed. You don't have to make it long or anything; you can even review just to say hi. I don't mind. Anyways, I'll try to hurry with the next chapter. By the way, it's going to be in Jyou's POV.


	5. A Love Before Time

A/N: This chapter is in Jyou's POV. Nothing else to say here...please read on.

Disclaimer: The disclaimer for this chapter will be at the very end for certain reasons. Please don't scroll down and check it out. Read the chapter first.

It took Matt a while to convince me to go to that party. I knew a certain person would be there, and I wasn't exactly trying to avoid him or anything, but I knew things might be awkward. I hadn't talked to him in a while, and he'd respected my silence and never asked questions, just like I knew he wouldn't. 

When I saw him at the party, my eyes started feeling as if there was too much air pressure in the room and I'd had to look down and shut my eyes hard. When Matt walked into the kitchen and I saw him follow, I decided to try and wait awhile before I went after Matt. I decided I wasn't quite ready to face it yet.

I walked towards where Ken and Iori sat on barstools in a corner of the room. I grinned at them, and they grinned at me in a greeting. I sat at a third barstool, on the other side of Ken. 

"How've you been, Jyou?"

"Oh, just fine. How've you two been holding out?"  


"Still living." Ken smirked at me. I knew how he felt. 

Iori looked me over. "Hikari and Miyako told me to look for something different about your appearance. Did you cut your hair or anything? I don't see any noticeable difference. I never was good at things like that, though."

I stiffened a bit. Damn Hikari and Miyako. It figures they'd go and tell everybody about that. 

"Oh, it's nothing much, never mind."

I never should have allowed Matt to blackmail me. I _so_ did not want to get that bellybutton piercing.

"No, tell us. The girls have gotten us so curious about it-"  


"No."

"Well, if it's nothing much, as you put it, then why try to hide it so eagerly?"  


I clenched my teeth in annoyance. "Promise you won't laugh."

"Yeah, sure, just show us already." 

They were grinning like Cheshire cats. If I weren't older and supposed to set a good example, I would have bashed their heads against each other. 

I got off of my barstool, glanced around to see if anybody was watching, and quickly flashed them a glance of my bellybutton ring. The second they saw it and it sunk in what it was, they doubled over laughing. I glared at them.

"That is so precious! Jyou with a bellybutton ring!"

My cheeks flared. "A little louder, why don't you? There's some people in America who haven't quite heard you yet."

"I'm sorry," Ken said through his laughter. 

Iori was gasping for air and turning purple. I'd never seen the little demon child laugh so much in all the years I'd known him. He didn't look so much like a demon child anymore, with his dark brown hair grown out and spiked downwards around his head and his green eyes a little lighter than they used to be.

I didn't say another word; I marched off in the direction of the kitchen, figuring that I'd rather take on the people in there than stay there and continue being humiliated. Luckily, I'd entered on the side Matt was on, so I was able to sit on his other side.

I gave a quick smile around at everyone, trying not to notice who each person was, and leant back against the counter, staring at the floor intently. Matt must have noticed how tense I was in that place and he stroked my hair, which he knew always calmed me down when I was nervous. 

"Jealous, Tai?" I heard Matt ask. 

I glanced up at Tai and caught a flash of annoyance in a gaze directed at me, but it immediately dissolved. He turned towards Matt again.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Bullshit, I thought. I think it's obvious to just about everyone but Tai and Matt that the two have crushes on each other. Matt is fully aware of his crush on Tai, and he accepts it totally. He even acts on it, not that Tai notices. Tai probably has an idea of what he feels for Matt, but sometimes he does seem confused by it. I figured maybe he was still in the questioning-his-sexuality stage. He always was a bit slow.

"Having fun?"

I glanced up at Matt, and I must have looked how I felt, because he smirked at me. I glanced down at the floor. 

"Yeah, tons of fun, sure. I'm just getting a little bored, that's all. And what about you? Having oodles of fun?"

He didn't respond. I looked up at him again. "Matt?"

He had this sort of faraway look in his eyes, and I knew he was off daydreaming again. I sighed and tugged on his sleeve. When he still didn't give a response, I said in a firm, louder voice, "Matt."

He slowly came to and stared at me awhile. I smiled at him. He looked so cute when he came back from his little dream world. His eyes got a little wider and he looked more innocent, reminding me of Takeru.

"Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts."  


I smiled again, telling him I'd already guessed. 

Then, _he_ spoke. As soon as I heard his familiar, smooth, yet at the moment, dreaded voice, I froze. I willed myself not to look at him, so, of course, I did exactly that. His black-looking eyes (which, after previous very close inspection, turned out to be a very dark gray-blue) were just as I'd remembered them, from when I used to gaze into them for hours at a time. His dark red hair had grown out a bit and resembled the hair he used to have as an eleven-year-old. His pale, smooth skin, the skin I'd loved to touch before, but now made me completely nervous about accidentally brushing it, had very faint goosebumps on it, and I guessed he was a little cold. I realized it was indeed cold in the room, but the tension I felt had made me feel warmer. 

I realized Matt wasn't in the room anymore. I glanced around for him, and then looked forward at Tai, who was talking to the other person in the room. (At this point I began asking myself why I was avoiding even thinking his name.)

They were talking about a college that Tai said sounded very interesting, and he was trying to see how much all of his friends knew about it, so that he could get different opinions. It was in America, but Tai said that if he continued doing awesome in sports, he should get a scholarship to help him out. The name of the college seemed vague to me - I'd probably only heard the name once or twice in my life - and then he answered Tai's questions and I listened to his soft voice. 

After a while, I heard shouting coming from the living room. It sounded like Takeru, Daisuke, and Sora were arguing about something. Tai and I glanced over towards the redhead - well, I glanced over to his feet - since we knew he was the only one who'd been able to master the art of bringing peace to the younger generation of our friends. Sure enough, his feet slid down to the ground and the rest of his body followed, walking out of the kitchen and to the living room. As soon as he was out of the room I looked up, since my neck had begun hurting from staring down at the ground so long.

"Hey, ostrich-boy," Tai said, and I glared at him, "welcome back to earth."

He was grinning at me. He knew more-or-less what had gone on before the whole Sora-fiasco. He was one of the few that did. Only Matt, Hikari, and Takeru had been informed of the relationship we'd shared. 

Just then I heard something coming out on the TV, and what sounded like a movie began playing. In a matter of seconds, the opening theme began playing, and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest and splattered onto the tile floor. The music filled my ears until I thought I'd go deaf, even though I knew the volume wasn't all that loud, and I began walking involuntarily towards the living room, needing proof that it was what I thought it was. 

I bumped into something, or someone, as I entered, and I paused in my steps, my eyes glued to the screen. Sure enough, the familiar words played on the screen, and I wondered for a few seconds if this was some kind of sick joke. I glanced down to see what I had run into, and deep soulful eyes stared up into mine behind that red hair that looked so touchable it could drive you mad. My eyes widened in slight shock, and then half-closed as I suddenly felt my insides go soft. 

"We need to talk," I heard myself say, only loud enough for him to hear over the music. 

He nodded at me and looked down at the ground. I figured this was my cue to lead the way, so I did.

~ ~ ~ Four months before ~ ~ ~

We lay curled up in each other's arms on the couch, a popcorn bowl left somewhere on the floor under the blanket thrown over our bodies. We were watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which Koushirou had insisted upon renting. It was supposed to be a romantic/action type movie, so I didn't have any qualms about watching it, and as it played, I found myself getting more and more into it. It had the most beautiful music I'd ever heard played in a movie, and I wondered to myself if there was a soundtrack I could buy. 

As the movie ended, and the last, heart-touching scene came out, I had tears in my eyes and I was holding Koushirou close to me in my arms, stroking his eternally soft hair and sniffling. I heard him sniffle as well, so I felt less cheesy about crying. As the scene faded out and the ending credits played, and that beautiful song came out once again, I looked down into his eyes and brushed his hair back from his face.

I reached down and slowly slid my hand down his arm, then rested my hand over his so our fingertips barely touched, and that small, yet personal contact seemed more intimate than anything we'd ever done before. 

He smiled at me, and his entire appearance seemed so blissfully peaceful that I suddenly forgot my tears and stared in wonder. He slowly leant up to kiss me and pulled back again, toying with a strand of my blue hair. 

"Jyou, let's make a promise to each other," he whispered, so as not to break the peaceful mood.

"Sure," I whispered back.

"Let's promise that we'll always love each other, no matter what happens, and even if we ever get separated for any reason at all, we'll keep our love close in our hearts and never forget it."

"I promise you that, Koushirou, but...why would we be separated?" That comment alone had got me on a slight edge. "Is something wrong?"  


He smiled slowly, and I thought there were more tears in his eyes now than before. He leant forward and kissed me again, softly and slowly, and then pulled back, his eyes still closed. He opened them after a while and took a deep breath.

"Don't worry, love...I'll never, ever break our promise."

  
I was about to say that wasn't what I'd wanted to know, but he got up and walked towards the door. 

  
"I have to go," he said over his shoulder, grabbing his coat. 

I rose to my feet and shifted a bit, feeling nervous. "Wait, don't go."

He turned to me, smiling in reassurance. "Why on earth not? It's late, and I'm supposed to be home by now."

"I'll drive you."

"I brought my car."

"I'll drive your car."

"Jyou," he said quickly, coming over and sitting me down again, "I'll be fine. Geez, calm down." He laughed at me and smiled affectionately. "Everything's fine."

He'd left that night, and I'd eventually gone to sleep, once my mind was more or less at rest again. I didn't see him again for the next three months. 

~ ~ ~ Present time ~ ~ ~

We sat on Takeru's bed. He, Koushirou, was leaning back against a pillow that was pressed against the headboard, and I sat in the middle of the bed, hugging a pillow to my chest. He looked into my eyes and smiled that slow, peaceful smile, and I felt my body relaxing in response. 

"It's been a while."

"I saw you just last weekend, remember the picnic?" 

"No, I mean..." he reached out and touched my hand, then gently slid his hand under mine so our palms faced each other, "it's been a while since we were together like this."

I felt myself blushing and I looked down, letting my hair slide forward to hide my face. I heard him laughing gently and his hand left my hand to tuck my hair behind my ear. 

"Too late to hide, Jyou. I already saw it."

This made me blush even more, and he smiled at me again. He leant his head back and stared at the ceiling to save me from any further embarrassment, letting me regain my color without him watching.

"So, why did you do it?" 

I knew he'd been dying to ask me that for the past month, since he'd gotten back from wherever he'd gone off to, and I was impressed by how calm he sounded asking it. 

After he left, I was being driven crazy wondering where the hell he'd disappeared to, since no one else from our friends knew, and his entire family had gone with him, so I had no one to give me information. Koushirou had called me a few times to assure me he was still alive, but he would not leave a phone number or even tell me where he was, saying it would all be explained in due time. After a while, I started feeling incredibly lonely and my self-esteem was dropping lower than usual, thinking he'd run away from me because he was sick of me and needed to get away from me. My friends assured me that wasn't the case, but they couldn't help but wonder why he wouldn't tell me anything about it. 

A few weeks before he came back, I'd noticed Sora was acting closer to me than usual, and even appearing to flirt with me, and Tai and Daisuke both informed me that she had had a crush on me for a very long time, and was now getting braver about it since Koushirou was gone. In a desperate attempt to restore some sort of a romantic relationship in my life, I agreed to go on a date with her, and after I let her kiss me once, she figured that we were steady boyfriend and girlfriend and insisted on continuing to date me. I was half-terrified of Koushirou finding out and half-terrified of false hope preventing me from ever having some kind of love ever again. I found a love in Sora, sure, but it was a different sort of love, and it was turning into a sisterly-type of love rather fast. After a week of forcing myself to stay with Sora, since my brain kept overpowering my heart in telling me whether or not to stick with her, I finally gave into my heart and decided I would break it off with Sora. I had it planned for the day that would be our one-week anniversary. The night before, Sora stayed over late at my house, and I decided to give in one last time and allowed myself to make out with her on the couch. 

That night, Koushirou came home. 

Surely enough, he walked in on us. After he ran back out of the house, I broke up with Sora right then and there, and debated running after Koushirou. Sora slapped me and stormed off to the garage, where her car was, ranting about being used by me, and I couldn't help but break down on the couch after she'd closed the door. 

After that night, I tried my hardest to face Koushirou, because I knew he was probably killing himself wanting to know the truth behind my actions, but I never could. He never asked, since he never was the type to ask questions when he trusted you enough to tell him on your own. 

And so now, when he asked, I felt that he must be the bravest person in the world for having held out that long, and I knew he still trusted me to tell him the absolute truth. I did tell him, and it took a while to explain every detail I could remember, and he listened in complete silence, still watching the ceiling. He listened so calmly that I wondered if maybe he was actually daydreaming and wasn't listening to me, but when I finished he looked at me again and stared into my eyes for a long time, making sure my eyes didn't flash any dishonesty. When he was sure, he smiled slowly again and took my hand in between his. He lifted it and kissed a fingertip, then lifted his hand to touch my fingertips to his. That simple gesture alone nearly brought tears to my eyes. 

He was telling me that he completely forgave me. 

"And I have one last thing to say to you, Koushirou," I said, forcing my voice to gain some sort of control over itself, because it was starting to break. "I never once broke my promise. I always loved you." A tear slipped down my cheek and I hurriedly wiped at it. "I loved you every second of every day you were gone...and...and even now," I finished, swallowing. 

He made a small noise in the back of his throat and he swallowed also, nodding his head. He leant forward and slipped his arms around my neck, and I gently wrapped mine around his waist. He pressed his head down against my shoulder, and I felt his tears slowly soaking my shirt. 

"I kept my promise too, Jyou," he said close to my ear. 

I smiled at the ceiling and closed my eyes, letting the rest of the tears escape so I could see more clearly. 

"I never doubted that."

He gently adjusted himself so he was sitting on my lap, and I stroked his back. We stayed like that for a few seconds, or maybe even minutes. I lost track of the time, and I wished I would never find it again. A question burned in my mind, however, and I decided that I'd better ask it now, or forever hold my peace. 

"Koushirou," I began gently, lowering his guard. He slowly pulled away from me and rubbed his eyes, then stared into mine, smiling.

"Yes?"  


I bit the corner of my lip, a habit he'd always thought was adorable. 

"Why did you leave, and where did you go?"

~ ~ ~ ~

A/N: And you'll find that out in the next chapter. Heh. Anyways, sorry if this was too sappy for you, but what can I say...I love them. Jyoushirou is just too adorable for words. Right, so review please. And I also noticed no one ever gives constructive criticism. You don't have to if you don't want to, but it would help me a good deal. Sorry if anyone thinks that I should get back to the Taito and I'm digressing too much, but it does tie into the story somewhat, so just relax and be patient.

Note: Next chapter will be Koushirou's POV.

Disclaimer: I don't own Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, or any of the music from the movie, though it is awesome. (Coco Lee sings the theme, and Yo-Yo Ma do the instrumental music, in case anyone's interested.) Also, the title of this chapter comes from the theme song, "A Love Before Time", sung by Coco Lee. I don't claim ownership of the song, I'm only using it for my own entertainment.


	6. Return to Innocence

A/N: I think this will be the last time I write some other couple for an entire chapter. I feel like I've started writing another story here and I want to be able to get back to where I was before. So after this, I'm going back to Tai and Matt, okay? I'm also thinking of writing the rest in third person. I guess I'll decide later.

You don't have to read this chapter if you don't want to. This is basically just an account of what happened to Koushirou during the months he was gone. If you're interested, though, go ahead and read it.

Disclaimer: See past disclaimers.

I never wanted to leave in the first place. The family that I'd had for most of my life was family enough for me, and I'd been content with having them with me. The family that wasn't always there, well, they were a completely different story.

I guess I'd better start by saying that I'm adopted. I've known my whole life, and I'm comfortable with it. As far as I'm concerned, they're my true parents, because they fully love me and support me, and I give my love and support back to them, and, since they adopted me when I was barely around a year old, I don't remember anything before them being my parents. 

My grandmother, as always, had a completely different opinion. She is against adoption, and feels very strongly about it. She says that if a woman cannot conceive a child, then she was not meant to have one, and that is it. She thinks my mom was messing with fate when she adopted me, and she never quite accepted me into the family. It was so bad that my parents moved away from the rest of my family, who all more-or-less agreed with my grandmother, since she was like the Queen to them, and whatever she said was law. We moved out here to Odaiba when I was two years old, and Odaiba has been my home ever since. 

The only one who totally supported my mother and father's decision to adopt was my mom's sister, Tsubasa. Tsubasa was definitely the 'oddball' of the family. She was an artsy type who enjoyed wearing what was already out-of-fashion, usually sported her paint-splattered once-white apron, and was quite the liberalist. She was the most open-minded person I'd ever known of (before I met Sora), and she and my mother were the best of friends. When Mom moved away, Tsubasa was heartbroken, and the only reason she didn't move over here along with us was she was already married and had kids of her own, and she didn't want to make such changes in her life at that moment, but she always promised to move over here if my mom ever needed her close by. 

And so, when my grandmother called my mom about four months ago, we were so startled by the phone call (we didn't know she even _had_ our phone number), that Mom just had to answer it. Grandma wanted us to go back home for a few months, and quickly said she was telling the whole family to return home again, so that we wouldn't feel special or anything silly like that. 

Tsubasa had died in a car accident. 

The funeral was to be in a week. 

The only reason we didn't start packing immediately was we had to wait for my Mom to stop screaming and crying on the living room floor.

After we were on our way (my dad had the brilliant idea that we would save money by driving the whole way), I couldn't help but contemplate whether or not I should have told Jyou. I was glad that I'd been able to have that last night with him, and I'd at least dropped a hint, so I wouldn't feel so guilty. I'd be away for so long, though. It wasn't that I didn't trust Jyou or anything, because I completely did. I just didn't know if I'd be able to be without him for so long.

I called him whenever I could, and since I didn't want Jyou, and probably the entire gang, on the next flight in, I never told him where I was or why I'd left. I didn't think Jyou would just hop on a plane and fly over to accompany me on my stay there, because I knew he had more sense than that, but if he found out, he'd tell the others, and certain people (i.e. Taichi and Daisuke) would drag him onto the nearest plane without a second thought. They tend to get a bit carried away sometimes. 

The drive wasn't so bad. The stay was hell on earth. I wouldn't have minded having to stay in the car until we were ready to go home. My grandpa locked himself in his room the entire time. I bumped into him once or twice on one of my many journeys to the refrigerator for a midnight snack (I suppose I got that bad habit from him), but that was the only time I saw him. I don't think he slept much those few weeks. 

My grandma kept talking about how Tsubasa wasn't the most obedient daughter of them all, but she at least had the dignity to stay within 'house law', and every time she said that and gave my mother that look, I had to grip the edges of my seat to keep from shouting at her. It isn't polite to shout during mourning time, I think. I couldn't believe she was actually saying Tsubasa was at least a so-so daughter. I think she shed maybe three or four tears for show. I seriously think that was about it. 

My mom's older sister joined Tsubasa's husband in sharing heartfelt memories with some of the other family members, and I heard one that I'd always liked about Tsubasa painting a picture of her mother as a monster. My grandma said something that cut that memory short, but I asked my mom to tell me the whole story again that night, and we laughed more than we did during those whole three and a half months. 

Mom pretty much stuck with Dad and me during the whole thing. We didn't stay in the room too much, but we retreated into our room when she thought she was going to start crying, and we did our best to comfort her. On the third night, we stole a photo album from the living room, and spent most of the day studying each photo with Tsubasa in it and listening to Mom tell us all about the memories the pictures brought up to her mind.

Mom stuck the photo album in the suitcase and we brought it home with us. She figured she was the only one that could truly appreciate it anyways. I didn't tell her, but I took a picture out of the album to keep for myself. It's one of Tsubasa and Mom laying on the couch, when Tsubasa was sixteen and Mom was fourteen, with their long legs stretched out and their feet on the coffee table, hugging each other and smiling almost innocently at the camera. I noticed Mom's nails were blue in the picture. Mom used to love it when Tsubasa painted my mom's nails blue with a blue marker. 

We were supposed to leave after a week or two, but then Grandpa died of a heart attack. The last words I'd heard him say were the words he said to me when we both went to the refrigerator for a glass of milk at one in the morning. 

"She was all I really had, you know," he'd said softly. I hadn't known what to say, so I'd remained quiet, and then he gave me a small smile, grabbed the jug of milk, and walked back to his room, still carrying the whole milk jug in his arms.

I had thought about that for a while before falling asleep that night, and then I realized that the only reason my grandpa stayed with my grandma was for his children, and even then, his children always obeyed their mother first and foremost. I think my grandpa was always second-best to everyone in the family, because my grandma was so domineering in the household that no one ever even thought to go against her. Tsubasa and Mom were the only ones who really loved Grandpa more than Grandma, and since Mom had moved so far away from them, Grandpa was only really loved by Tsubasa, and she was always calling him on the phone and visiting him.

After Grandpa died, Grandma laid down a new rule that she wasn't allowing anyone to break: we were all to stay there another three and a half months, to ensure that everyone got over the loss and no one left in too much grief. Basically, she wanted to make sure we were all okay so that no one went and killed himself or herself, because she didn't want to have to deal with another funeral.

When we finally left that stuffy house, I felt a lot more refreshed than I'd felt in a while. I felt like I was leaving all the bad feelings behind me, and I was going back to my ordinary, yet never-boring life, where I could smile again, be myself again, and not be the 'family mistake' anymore. 

Then, I walked in on my loving boyfriend making out with my trusted friend on his couch. It may be unnecessary to say, but I didn't exactly regain the happiness I thought I'd left behind. 

After that, I decided to continue attending the multiple get-togethers my friends always had, but I decided to let him approach me. I was tired of having to comfort everyone. I wanted to be recognized again. I wanted someone to comfort _me_ for once. I did receive that comfort, and starting that night, my mother and I began to heal all of our heart wounds together, and I started to once again remember the happiness. 

"I'm so sorry...I didn't know you were going through all of that," Jyou said, sounding depressed and guilt-ridden. 

"Well, it's not like you knew what was happening or anything," I said slowly, but still feeling I did deserve an apology.

"Geez, Koushirou, why do you do that? You never tell anyone when anything is wrong, because you don't want to be a burden, and think no one wants to hear your problems. You've done that constantly ever since I first met you. How can you stand it? Don't you ever just unload?"

"Well, yeah. Actually, I used to unload everything on Sora all the time, because she's so understanding...but I haven't talked to her much since I got back."

His hold on me tightened, and I became aware of our body posture again. I figured that I was probably making his legs go numb, so I shifted until I'd slid off of his lap and sat close to his side, turning towards him. 

"Well, I can understand _that_," Jyou muttered to himself.

I smiled at him and tried to ruffle his hair, something that always annoyed him. He narrowed his eyes at me and automatically began fixing his hair with his hands. I shook my head. 

"Leave it messy. You look so adorable with messy hair, Jyou," my voice whined softly.

His hands paused in their movements; the cute, whiny voice always got to him. He sighed and dropped his hands. Suddenly, he pulled his shirt up. My eyes widened. His chest was so pale and smooth...I'd missed it so much. I was about to reach out to touch him when I noticed what I probably was supposed to notice in the first place.

"Oh," I said to myself, blushing. "You got a piercing. Someone made you do it, right?"

The bellybutton piercing actually looked pretty sexy. Kind of like you could play with it with your tongue...damnit, I was away from him for too long. Must regain some sense...

"Yeah, Matt kind of blackmailed me into doing it. I hate it."

"I don't," I said, my voice kind of low and thick.

He raised an eyebrow and I cleared my throat.

"I mean it looks nice. Yeah, really nice." 

"Uh-huh."

I leant down and tried to lick his stomach. It tasted like I figured it'd taste, kind of like if you chewed on an earring. Yes, I've done that before. I get bored sometimes and my mom leaves jewelry lying around.

Jyou blushed a lot and tried to push me away. "Wha-what are you doing?! Damnit, Koushy, you are so freaky!"

I sat up again, trying to look at him dryly. "Never bothered you before."

"I didn't mean freaky-freaky, I meant freaky-weird. You know what I meant."

I blinked at him. "What?"

He pulled his pillow up to hide his boiling face. "Never mind," he croaked.

I laughed to myself and reached out to mess his hair up again. "Old reliable Jyou, you never change."

"Shut up," he told the pillow.

~ ~ ~ ~

A/N: I always figured Koushirou was the type of boyfriend who enjoyed doing weird things to...oh, author's note, right. Sorry. Poor Koushy-baby. Mean old witch. (The grandmother, not Koushirou.) Sorry if the whole story of where he was bored you, but I wasn't sure whether I should use that idea or not. Well, it's done with, so that's good. 

A second note: Do any of you have Pitas accounts? If you do, then could you tell me how to change the layout? I don't know HTML. It sucks. Could any of you e-mail me if you could explain to me how to change a layout? My e-mail is: fredisdead44@hotmail.com


	7. Rainbow Bouncy Ball

A/N: Relatively short chapter tonight. Seemed like a good place to stop. Agh, now I can't get the image of Rei from Beyblade as a sexy-purry-kitten out of my mind. Oh, the daydreams...when will they stop? Rei and Kai and a cathouse (pun intended). Damn Sunfreak and her amazingly amazing fics. If you haven't read them, go read them right now. Wait, not NOW, I mean after you read and review this chapter. Yeah, that's it.

wormmonsoul, you reviewed! Yay! **Big hug** I was wondering what'd happened to you. ^-^ I've actually been thinking about Kenato (and Yamasuke, which I AM working on, but that's a different story). It would be...interesting. **Evil smile** Anyways, this chapter is dedicated to you! 

Yamato sat close to his brother, resting his head on Takeru's shoulder, smiling through his tears as the ending credits of the movie rolled onto the screen. He brought a hand up to wipe his eyes and sat up straight. He and Takeru looked at each other to check for watery eyes, and they laughed when both of them were crying slightly.

"You cried," Takeru said playfully.

"So did you," Matt shot back, smiling.

Tai came into the room with a bowl of popcorn and then stopped when he saw the movie was over. 

"Where's the movie?" he asked, raising his arms to the TV.

"It's over, Tai," Matt told him, grinning.

Tai sighed dramatically and plopped down on the chair, which happened to be occupied by a sleeping Ken, who abruptly grunted when Tai landed on him. Tai ignored Ken's protests and sulkily shoved popcorn into his mouth, staring at the blank TV screen. Matt raised an eyebrow at Tai sitting on Ken's lap, and soon Ken shoved Tai off and the popcorn went flying.

"No, my popcorn!" Tai cried, dropping to his knees. 

Daisuke and Sora peered out from behind Takeru to point and laugh at Tai, and Tai was heard mumbling about some friends they were. Matt quickly got down on hands and knees and started helping Tai pick up the popcorn. Tai stopped what he was doing, his hand suspended in the air, as Matt grabbed for the kernel he had been about to pick up, and Matt felt a small tingling of pleasure in his stomach at the blush he thought he saw crawl over Tai's cheeks.

In the kitchen, Tai poured the spilt popcorn into the trash can and set the bowl in the sink, glancing up every once in a while to eye Matt, who sat on Takeru's kitchen counter, looking through the cabinets to his left.

"What are you doing?" he asked, once his curiosity had started bothering him.

Matt glanced up from what he was doing and shrugged, closing the cabinet he had opened. He slid off the counter and walked up to Tai until he was standing so close he only had to tilt his head up slightly to make his breath mingle with Tai's.

Tai's eyes opened wider and Matt realized that Tai had stopped breathing. He continued to stand there, making Tai feel nervous, and then Matt reached forward and pulled Tai's head down, arms fully wrapped around his neck.

"We never talk anymore, you know?" Matt said, as if they had been having this conversation for a while, and his behavior wasn't totally weird.

Tai didn't quite know what to say, or do, for that matter. His arms flopped uselessly at his sides, his back bending over awkwardly to let his head rest on Matt's shoulder. 

"We never really hang out anymore. We need to make time to hang out together. I feel like our friendship is just...there. It makes me sad."

Matt's eyes darkened slightly. 

"I've missed you, Tai."

Tai cleared his throat, feeling he had to answer to that.

"I've missed you, too."

Matt loosened his grip around Tai's neck and Tai adjusted himself so the position wasn't awkward. He liked the feeling of his head resting on Matt's shoulder, so he kept it there. He still wasn't quite sure what to do with his arms, since he'd never really done this with a guy before, and he was pretty sure he couldn't just rest his hands on Matt's waist, for fear that Matt would punch him.

"I've been having weird dreams about you," Tai blurted out.

Matt's eyes twinkled and a smile quirked his face. "Really?"

Tai's eyes went wide. Why did he just say that? Tai had practically just blurted out that he was developing some kind of habit of having sick-yet-so-sweet dreams about Matt. At first, it had just been the Sora-turning-into-Matt, but now it was just Matt. Kissing Matt by the river, making out with Matt under a twisted-looking bridge, Matt naked...what the hell was he doing telling Matt about his dreams?! Tai felt slightly panicked.

"Tell me about them," Matt said.

Tai practically broke out into a sweat. "Uh...why do you want to know?"

Matt let him go, his arms dropping to his sides. Tai immediately jerked up from his shoulder, trying to keep his face looking calm. Matt's eyes were dark and unreadable. A small frown played about his face. 

"Don't tell me you dream of me and then deny me the right to know about them," Matt told him flatly.

Tai frowned slightly, realizing what it had sounded like. He hated it whenever people told him they had a juicy secret, and then didn't tell him what it was. 

"I'm sorry," Tai said weakly. 

Matt closed his eyes and hung his head a little. He stood like that for a second longer, then turned and walked out of the kitchen. The warm, fuzzy atmosphere that had been present a minute before vanished. Tai leant back against the counter and stared at the floor, almost thoroughly confused by what had just happened. Why had Matt come up to him and hugged him like that? 

Just then, Koushirou walked into the kitchen, arms crossed, pouting. He saw Tai and turned to him.

"Jyou won't give me my rainbow bouncy ball back."

"What are you doing with a rainbow bouncy ball at a party?"

"Sleepover party," Koushirou corrected, smiling. "And why not?"

Tai didn't answer. He didn't even smile and laugh at Koushirou's typical-Koushy question. Something his friend had said struck him. 

He was going to have to sleep over, and, knowing Takeru, was probably going to have to share either a bed or the floor with Matt. 

How he would survive the sweet agony of sleeping next to the golden-haired fallen angel, Tai couldn't even begin to guess.

~ ~ ~ ~  


A/N: Just to notify you all, I'm seriously thinking of doing a Beyblade fic. I've started watching it every morning and can't help but love it. Max captivates me. I don't know how else to say it...I think I've fallen for the blondie. =^-^= And Rei-kitty and Kai-meanie ARE soulmates, thank you very much. Anyways, back to Digimon, I'm not sure if it's just energy and her love for Koushy-kun or if it's just me, but Koushirou is suddenly becoming more and more endearing to me every day. As for the rainbow bouncy ball and Koushy-baby...don't ask. It's kind of an inside thing between me and...me. 

Review and I'll kiss your feet. ^-^ Come on, bring on the love.


	8. Loving You Isn't Easy

A/N: First of all, sorry if I kept you waiting too long. Second of all, I shouldn't have drunk all that coke...ugh. 

Ikky: O.o' She doesn't own Digimon or any of the characters, thank God. 

**Seething glare**

Ikky: Er...yeah. Hope you enjoy.

The party raged on for most of the night. Takeru's mother called once from her hotel to ask if things were going okay. Takeru reassured her and told her everything was going to be just fine.

Matt crept up beside him, smiling down at his little brother. Takeru grinned up at him and waved at him.

"Hey Mom, Matt's right here. You want to talk to him?"

Matt stopped smiling. He hadn't known Takeru had been talking to their mother. He shook his head as Takeru handed him the phone. Reluctantly, he took it. He took a deep breath before lifting it to his ear.

"Mom?"

"Hey, honey. How have you been?"

"Er, okay. Where are you, anyways?"

"I'm at a hotel...you know, a trip for work. How's the party?"

"Um, okay."

There was a brief silence.

"So...how are things with you?" he asked.

"Oh, fine, fine. Say, Matt...how's your father?"

Matt shut his eyes and gripped the phone cord. "Uh, Dad's doing good."

"Is he still a lousy drunk?"

"Don't call him that," Matt said quietly, hanging his head a little.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Can we please not talk about this?"

"Fine, we won't. So...do you have a girlfriend?"

Matt nearly laughed out loud at how absurd that sounded to him. "Hmm, no, I don't have a _girl_friend."

He heard Takeru give a snorting laugh. He reached out a hand to smack his brother's arm.

"Why is that so funny? Is that Takeru laughing?"

Matt regained composure. "Yes. And it's funny because...I definitely would not, and never will have a girlfriend."

There was another small silence, probably confusion. "Why?" she asked uncertainly.

"Because I'm gay," Yamato said, grinning.

He heard his mother gasp. "Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry, Yamato! I forgot."

"Obviously," he muttered, twisting the phone cord around his finger.

He could still hear Takeru laughing. Yamato rolled his eyes at him. Takeru stuck his tongue out.

"So...do you have a boyfriend?"

"No."

"Do you like anyone?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"None of your business."

"I'm your mother, of course it's my business."

"Oh, please," Matt muttered. "You are hardly my mother anymore."

The second he let that slip out, his eyes went wide and his hand darted up to cover his mouth. There was dead silence over the phone. Takeru had raised his hands to cover his mouth, also, and then they slowly rose to cover his whole face.

"Please put Takeru back on the phone," he heard his mother say in a quiet, deadly voice.

Yamato did exactly that and quickly left the room.

~ ~ ~ ~

Taichi noticed Yamato enter the living room looking slightly upset. He frowned and watched as Yamato sat beside Jyou and quickly started talking with him about something. Taichi smiled a little as he watched as Yamato realized Jyou was still staring at Koushirou and he had to shake his friend's shoulder to get his attention. After Yamato and Jyou had begun talking to each other, Taichi stood and began walking towards the kitchen. Once inside, he saw Takeru hanging the phone up, frowning. He walked over, guessing that it had something to do with Yamato's mood. 

"Hey, what's up?" Tai asked gently.

Takeru turned to look at him and bit his lip slightly, hugging himself. "Nothing."

Tai looked him over, raised an eyebrow, and said, "Don't look like nothing."

Takeru sighed and turned to raise himself up onto the counter. Taichi did the same, looking over at the young blonde. 

"See, Matt and our mom are sort of unfriendly with each other without meaning to be because Matt is kinda biased towards Dad in this whole divorce thing, and Mom likes bringing up Dad's faults all the time when talking to Matt, like she's trying to get him on her side. He hates it."

Taichi nodded slowly, looking at the floor. "It upset him."

Takeru rubbed his arm, sighing. Taichi reached a hand out to give him a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. Takeru glanced at him and smiled gratefully. 

"Hey, Tai...do you like my brother?"

Tai's eyes widened slightly and he looked around, as if checking to see if anyone heard them. Takeru grinned widely at the panicked look in his eyes.

"You do, don't you?"

Tai turned to look at him uncertainly. "Actually, I don't know...I'm really confused right now. I mean, I think I like him, and at the same time, I think maybe I don't."

Takeru smiled. "I felt the same way before. Now, I know I'm in love...but before, I was confused as all hell."

Taichi's head snapped up. "You're in love? With who?"

Takeru laughed and looked down, blushing.

"No, now you have to tell me," Tai demanded. 

"I'm afraid you might get mad," Takeru said, rubbing his neck.

"No, I won't, just tell me."

Takeru rolled his eyes up to the ceiling, then looked at Tai again. He smirked and sat up straight. "Okay, I'm in love with your sister."

"I KNEW IT!" Tai screamed, poking wildly at Takeru.

Takeru held his hands up. "Hey! Stop it! Argh, Tai!"

"It was _so_ obvious you guys were, like, totally in love with each other," Tai said, actually giggling.

"You aren't going to kill me?" Takeru asked, sounding surprised. 

"Not unless you hurt my sister. Then, I'm afraid I will have to kill you."

"If you kill me, Matt will kill you."

"Well then I'll leave a note to Daisuke telling him to kill Matt."

"Er...Jyou will not only kill Daisuke for killing Matt, but he will skin him, burn the flesh, and then pour the melted flesh over Matt's bones."

"Dude, ew. True, though."

"What are you _talking_ about?!" Hikari asked, walking into the kitchen with her hands on her hips, a slight look of disgust on her face. "Pour the _what_?"

"Nothing," Taichi said, smiling innocently.

Takeru offered Hikari a shy smile, and she smiled back. She moved past Taichi to stand before Takeru.

"Hey, Take-chan...are you going to show me that picture you said you were going to show me?"

Takeru grinned a little goofily. "Oh, right, I had forgotten." 

He held his hand out and she took it, lacing their fingers together. Taichi watched as the young couple walked towards Takeru's room.

"And that better be the only thing you show her, Takeru!" Taichi called after them.

They both cried an embarassed "Taichi!" before closing the door, and Taichi smiled gently to himself as he moved into the living room again.

~ ~ ~ ~

Yamato was sitting down on the couch next to Jyou and Koushirou. They were talking in hushed voices and Koushirou and Yamato were both hugging one of Jyou's arms, seeming to be pretend-arguing over the blue-haired boy. 

"But Jyou told me I was his knight in shining armor," Yamato was saying, pouting.

"Yeah? Well, Jyou told me I was his sex kitten," Koushirou shot back, smirking.

Yamato grinned and let Jyou's arm go, looking away and laughing to himself. Jyou was blushing wildly and Koushirou was doubled over laughing. Taichi got the feeling that Koushirou was telling the truth.

"So are you two, like, back together?" Taichi asked his friends.

Jyou and Koushirou turned to grin up at him. Koushirou turned Jyou's face towards his and gently planted a kiss on his boyfriend's lips. He then looked at Tai. "That answer your question?"

Taichi laughed and smiled at the two. "I'm happy for you guys, then."

He plopped down on the couch beside Yamato and smiled gently at the blonde. 

"Our siblings are in your brother's room, together, alone," Taichi told him.

Yamato gasped and held his hands up to his face. "Oh no, their innocence will be corrupted."

Taichi rolled his eyes and slid an arm around Yamato's shoulders, letting his hand rest over Yamato's left shoulder. Yamato settled back against his arm comfortably and turned to smile at him. Taichi smiled back, lazy and slow. His eyes were half-lidded and something undeterminable was swirling in their depths. Yamato felt his face heating up and quickly turned away, suddenly becoming interested in whatever was going on at the other side of the room.

Ken and Iori seemed to be arguing and playing cards.

"You are cheating," Iori accused Ken.

"No, I'm not," Ken told him flatly, eyes half-lidded and managing to look sarcastic. "You're just a crappy card-player."

Iori promptly threw his cards in Ken's face and Ken continued to sit there, only now he was grinning. 

"Shut up," Iori told him before the violet-haired boy could say anything.

"Have I ever told you that you're insane?" Ken asked him, seemingly out of the blue.

"Twenty-three times, but who's counting?"

"KEN! IORI!" An angry-hyper-looking Miyako promptly dragged them to their feet by their ears. The boys winced from just looking at her face. Angry-hyper-Miyako was never a good thing.

"We're going to the store!" she yelled at them, marching to the door. 

They looked at each other, the same question flashing in both pairs of eyes. _Whaaaat_?

"Why us?" Iori asked stubbornly. 

She turned in the doorway and fixed them with a death-glare that made both boys take a step back.

"Because," she said, and Ken swore he could feel an icy cold wind blow past them in that moment.

Miyako whipped her head toward the couch. "You four! You're coming, too!"

Taichi, Yamato, Jyou, and Koushirou stood up automatically and began walking toward her, not wanting to argue with her when she was like this.

~ ~ ~ ~

Taichi glared darkly out the window as they drove along. He was getting smushed because he, Yamato, Koushirou, Jyou, and Ken were all stuck in the backseat of Miyako's car, and he knew Miyako didn't even have a license yet and wasn't in the mood to get in trouble with the police. 

And to top it all off, Yamato was sitting all the way on the other end of the seat, leaning against the other door. Taichi grumbled again and pressed himself against his door.

"Tai, stop whining and shut up. We're almost there, I'm sure you can stand it," Miyako snapped.

Iori looked at her warily from his place in the passenger seat. He knew something was wrong with the purple-haired girl, but was almost afraid to ask.

Taichi suddenly got struck with an idea and wondered about it. His eyes slightly widened, and talking before he thought about the consequences, as usual, said, "You walked in on Takeru and Hikari kissing on Takeru's bed, didn't you?"

Miyako swerved to the right and they all screamed as she came to an abrupt stop on the right side of the road. Miyako shifted to Park and covered her face with her hands. She began crying. Iori turned in his seat to give Taichi a dirty look. Taichi cringed.

"Oops," he said quietly.

Iori undid his seatbelt and cautiously slid over to put his arms around Miyako. Miyako gratefully wrapped her arms around the younger boy and cried on his shoulder, asking, "Why? Why her? Why not me? Am I really that unattractive?"

Koushirou and Jyou frowned and looked at each other and Yamato pressed the palms of his hands against his forehead, shutting his eyes. 

"You aren't unattractive, and if I ever hear you say that again, I'm going to smack you," Iori said calmly, brushing her long, silky hair with his fingers. "I thought you said you were over Takeru."

"You believed me?" Miyako asked incredulously.

Iori thought about that. "Oh. How stupid of me."

She sniffled and wiped at her eyes. She suddenly turned and glared at Taichi. Taichi made a sound like "Meep!" and slid down the seat under her heated gaze. 

"You insensitive jerk," she hissed.

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" Taichi whined.

Yamato eyed him, wondering why this seemed oddly familiar. 

"Will all of you please shut up?! Miya-chan, drive! We're almost there, and I don't know what the hell we're going to be doing there, but I want to get it over with already!" Koushirou yelled at the front seat.

Miyako, gritting her teeth because she didn't like being told to shut up, or being bossed around, reluctantly turned and shifted gears from Park to Drive, doing as the frustrated redhead said.

They got there after what seemed like a million years and tumbled out of the car.

The tension seemed to ease away as they separated to wander around the grocery store aisles. Miyako hugged herself as she allowed Iori to slip an arm around her waist, walking with her through the aisles. 

"So, why are we here?" he asked gently.

Miyako was suddenly glad that Iori had the power to be totally calm and in-control no matter what situation he was shoved into. 

"I needed to get away from that house, and I didn't want to be alone. I don't know why I dragged so many people along, since it was sort of on impulse, but now that I think of it, Hikari had been crying for someone to do a chip run."

"Chip run?"

"Yeah, you know, going out and getting more chips. Hikari is a potato chip fiend."

Iori blinked at her. "I didn't know that."

Miyako smiled tearfully at her friend. 

Jyou and Koushirou sauntered around, eyeing things on the shelves, arms around each other's waists. Jyou found that he was having some trouble lowering his arm that much, so he lifted it to circle around his boyfriend's shoulders. Koushirou looked up at him out of the corner of his eyes and smiled affectionately when he saw the glimmer of child-like fascination in his boyfriend's eyes as Jyou closely inspected a can of what claimed to be chili.

Taichi and Yamato walked alongside Ken, tailing the rest of the group, and cracking jokes about the various oddly named foods on the shelves. Ken doubled over and held his stomach, falling behind the others as he cracked up next to a peculiar display of boxes.

Yamato smiled as he watched Taichi laugh mirthfully, hugging his stomach and wiping at the corner of one eye. 

"You're beautiful," he whispered, shaking his head slightly in amazement.

Taichi's laughter subsided into a nervous smile as he stared at Yamato.

"Why have you been doing that all night?"

"Doing what?" Yamato asked, sounding distracted.

"Hitting on me."

Yamato stopped smiling and walking and stared at Taichi. Taichi's expression turned even more confused. 

"I haven't been hitting on you," Yamato said, trying to sound innocent.

Taichi gave him a dry look. Yamato looked away and rubbed his arm, blushing slightly. 

Ken stopped laughing and was about to say something to the pair when he saw the looks they were giving each other. He slowly turned around and tiptoed away to find his other friends.

"Matt, please just tell me the truth. I'm going to go insane if I don't find out right now. Do you like me as more than a friend?" Taichi asked bluntly.

Yamato blushed even darker and lowered his eyes from view. "Maybe," he said softly.

Taichi leant back against the shelf of food, rested his hands on the cool surface behind him. He tried not to knock over any cans.

They stood there in silence for a long time. 

_Tell him! Tell him you like him back_! Taichi's mind screamed at him. He worked his mouth open, but couldn't bring himself to make a sound. His mouth drifted shut again.

Yamato's head was drifting farther and farther down, until his chin could have rested on his chest. He suddenly felt ashamed. He was going to ruin his friendship with Taichi and it was his entire fault. He felt he couldn't take any more of that dreadful silence, turned, and walked out of the aisle.

Taichi continued to stare blankly at the space in front of him. After a few moments passed, he brought his hands up to his face and swore.

_I really am an insensitive jerk._

Jyou poked his head around the corner. "Taichi! We're leaving!"

~ ~ ~ ~

A/N: Gah! This chapter...is finally...done! **Eye twitching and whatnot**

Ikky: **Eyes her warily** You shouldn't have drunk so much caffeine.

Shut up, blondie. Well, this chapter is longer than usual. Yay. Hmm, sorry about the cliffhanger. Review and the next chapter may come sooner. **Odd grin**


	9. Bathed in Moonlight

A/N: How's that for getting the chapter out soon? Hmm...sorry for sneaking the Takari and Takeyako on you so suddenly, but it's one of those things that creeps into your fic without you noticing. I totally hadn't been planning on either. Then again, I hadn't been planning on adding Jyoushirou, and look how much I used it anyways. 

For a disclaimer, look back to the first chapter, though you should know already I don't own a thing. 

This chapter is dedicated to Katie. Thanks for all of your advice. I really do love you. ^-~ Who wouldn't? 

"We're back!" Miyako chirped, feeling better now that she'd gotten her crying out of her system. She gave a hesitant smile to Hikari. "We got your chips."

Hikari grinned widely and held her arms out. Miyako placed the bag of chips in her arms and Hikari ripped it open, digging inside and pulling out a few to cram into her mouth. Takeru laughed and tried to work his hand into the bag without Hikari slapping it away. 

"Come on, share! Sharing is caring!"

Hikari sighed dramatically and allowed the blonde bishounen access to the potato chip bag. His eyes lit up and he dug in. Miyako smiled again as she watched the exchange, and though her heart still wept for want of Takeru's love, she couldn't help but admit to herself that the two looked cute together.

Jyou and Koushirou ran and leapt onto the couch they'd left earlier, claiming it again and settling down in each other's arms. 

Ken and Iori began picking up the cards that Iori had thrown at Ken earlier and started playing a different game. 

Only Taichi and Yamato entered without a smile gracing their facial features. Yamato stalked over to the couch that Jyou and Koushirou were on and promptly threw himself next to Jyou, burying his head into Jyou's shoulder. Taichi watched sadly from the doorway as Jyou began turning to Yamato and asking him what was wrong. 

"Taichi?"

He turned and looked at Daisuke and Sora, who were eyeing him with both curiosity and concern. 

"What happened?"

"We need to talk," Taichi said shortly, and began leading them to Takeru's room. 

Takeru watched them go out of the corner of his eye and couldn't help but wonder at the look on Tai's face. He glanced towards his older brother on the couch, noted his state, and frowned.

__

Uh-oh.

~ ~ ~ ~

"Why didn't you tell him?!" Sora asked, pulling at her hair frantically. 

"I don't know," Taichi mumbled into the pillow on his lap. He lifted his head to look at them, sniffling. "I thought I needed more time to think about whether or not I truly like Yamato in that way."

"Then why didn't you tell him _that _instead of just leaving him hanging?"

"I was caught totally off guard, and I was having trouble getting my voice to work." He put his head back down on the pillow. "I'm so stupid."

"Putting yourself down and wondering why you didn't act differently isn't going to help the situation," Daisuke said evenly. "What happened is past, and you need to think about the present. The person sitting on the couch in the living room, crying on his friend's shoulder, could possibly be the love of your life. I think you had better start trying to figure out your feelings instead of whining about how confusing they are."

Sora and Taichi stared at him, already knowing about Daisuke's surprising moments of clarity, but not having expected one then. Sora turned to Taichi.

"He's right," she said finally.

"But how do I sort myself out? I'm so unbelievably confused right now. I can't think at all."

"You need to make your mind as clear as possible. Right now, you're way too tense to handle this problem. Do you want Sora and I to take you somewhere away from the party, so you can hopefully think better?"

Taichi hesitated, then shook his head. "I just came back to the house. I don't want to leave again...but can we maybe go outside?"

Sora and Daisuke turned to each other and smiled. They turned back to him and both rested a hand on a shoulder.

"I think you need to be alone when you do this, but you can go outside by yourself," Sora said gently.

Taichi took a deep breath, exhaled in a deep sigh, and stood. "Okay."

~ ~ ~ ~

Meanwhile, Yamato was trying hard to take control of his tumultuous mood. Jyou was trying to comfort him, having been briefed on the situation at hand, but he wasn't exactly sure how to soothe the blonde. Yamato had never been rejected before.

Thinking on that, he turned to Yamato. "But...it wasn't exactly a rejection, was it? He didn't say 'I'm sorry, Yamato, I don't like you in that way', did he?"

Yamato lifted his head from Jyou's arm and looked up at his friend. "Well, not exactly, but I know it was going through his mind."

"You _know_ it was?" Jyou asked dryly.

Yamato sat up straight, sighing. "I'm trying not to give myself false hope."

"And at the same time, you're killing any true hope that could be there," Koushirou said, breaking the silence he'd kept for himself the entire time the other two had been talking.

They turned to look at him awhile, and then Yamato made an odd noise and ducked his head down again. Jyou sighed and patted his best friend's head. 

"Maybe you should go outside and, like, clear your head," Koushirou suggested.

"You said 'like'," Jyou said, amused.

Koushirou turned and narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend. "What, I can't be a genius and a normal teenager all at the same time?"  


Yamato stood and walked away from them, going towards the front door. He decided he did need fresh air, and a much clearer mind. Jyou and Koushirou watched him close the door behind him, turned to each other, and sighed.

"Were we that bad?"

"Hah. We were probably even worse."

Jyou smiled affectionately and ruffled Koushirou's hair. "It was so long ago I hardly remember anymore."

Koushirou smiled back and then turned serious. "Do you think Tai loves him?"

Jyou turned his head towards the doorway that led to the hall. "He does. I don't have a doubt in my mind."

~ ~ ~ ~

Taichi sighed and closed his eyes to the world, letting the light breeze swirl around him and slip through his fingers. Did he love Yamato? If he did, then why was he freaking out about it? Weren't you supposed to just know when you were in love? 

He thought of Jyou and Koushirou. Did they know right away? Were they scared? What about Takeru and Hikari? He figured that it was no use asking those questions, since the people he was thinking about weren't present to give answers.

He let his thoughts turn to Yamato. Yamato was beautiful beyond belief. He had immaculate, seemingly untouchable hair that kissed his shoulders and the back of his neck. He remembered once finding a color that perfectly fit the color of Yamato's hair, but he couldn't recall the name right then. 

He thought that Yamato was too skinny. He had once asked Yamato how much he weighed, but the blonde had instantly refused to give him that bit of personal information, claiming it was none of his business. Yamato's slender body didn't keep him from having good strength. He and Taichi enjoyed solving arguments over a round of wrestling, and Taichi had lost almost as frequently as he had won.

Taichi blushed when he thought of wrestling with Yamato. Sitting on his chest, pinning him to the floor, grinning triumphantly, breathing hard, and leaning down to cover the blonde's full, pouty lips with his own...well, maybe not the last one, but everything else. 

He suddenly realized he had totally gone off topic and it wasn't helping him figure anything out. 

He was about to smack his forehead when he saw something that made him stop in his tracks. On the other side of the fence enclosing the backyard, sitting in the middle of the paved driveway, was Yamato. He didn't know whether to embrace or curse the irony.

He watched as the moonshine bathed Yamato and turned his hair into a very light blue. He took a step back and heard what sounded like a crack. His eyes widened, his mind working enough to know that the thing under his foot felt like a stick, and watched as Yamato quickly turned his head around to look at Taichi. His eyes were full of tears and some streaked his face. 

Taichi cursed himself for being the probable cause of those tears, but then Yamato slowly smiled at him as he wiped an eye and Taichi forgot everything for a while.

"Are you going to just stand there and gawk, or are you going to jump that fence and come and tell me why you have to be such an insensitive jerk?" Yamato asked, his voice shaking only slightly.

Climbing the backyard fence, Taichi couldn't help but wonder why everyone seemed to take such a fancy to calling him an insensitive jerk, but that thought soon withdrew into a corner of his mind as he sat beside the blonde beauty.

~ ~ ~ ~

A/N: THE END! Eh, no, I'm kidding. Please don't kill me. You know, I'm actually starting to like the way I'm writing this fic. Yes, I usually don't like my own writing. It's hard to satisfy me sometimes. 

I seem to like the phrase "insensitive jerk" when applied to Taichi. I don't know, I think it's funny. XD


	10. Sweet Ending

A/N: Well, this will be the tenth and last chapter, I believe. Reasons? I have a few, but those can wait for the end of this chapter. My ending A/N will basically be a bunch of notes on my writing and stories, so if you don't really care then you can skip them. Yes, I know you've all gotten after me for not updating in a long time, but you won't have to worry about that after this because there will be no more of this fic. Well, I'm going to leave my ranting for the end, so you can read the chapter you've been waiting for.

Taichi carefully sat down next to Yamato, taking care not to look at his face and lowering his gaze to the ground. Yamato looked up at Taichi and smiled to himself when he saw Taichi was blushing slightly. He looked forward again to give his friend privacy. Taichi lifted his head a little.

"Sorry for being an insensitive jerk."

Yamato laughed. "No, I'm sorry for calling you one. I know people have taken to giving you that nickname, but...I don't think anyone really means it. You aren't a jerk, Taichi, and you certainly aren't insensitive. You just forget things and mess up occasionally, but no one can really blame you for that."

Taichi looked up at him and Yamato smiled when their eyes met. Taichi found it hard not to smile back at him. 

"I guess you're right. Well, you're always right. One more thing to say, though, and I want you to stick around and listen during the whole time I'm saying it, okay?"

Yamato looked a little nervous all of a sudden. "Okay," he said, steeling himself for anything that was about to be said.

Taichi took a deep breath and looked up into Yamato's clear, blue eyes. He decided to rest his hand over Yamato's hand for a little added effect. 

"Yamato," he began, "I've got something to confess. Back there, at the grocery store, I was being a complete idiot by not saying anything to you. I wanted to, but I needed to do a little more thinking about what you had said...or implied, rather. Now, I have had time to think about it, and I think I'm ready to answer you. I like you too. Not in the just-friends way, either. I like you in the way you like me. I was scared before, because I'd never thought of another guy like that in my whole life...besides this little thing where I thought Daisuke was cute, but I thought that was just an odd thought and it didn't mean anything. I've come to accept it, though, and if you're the person I'm supposed to have a crush on and maybe even someday come to love, then so be it."

Meanwhile, Yamato was having trouble closing his mouth. When Taichi stopped talking and gave Yamato a searching look, the blonde was sure that he was done and made an effort to make his jaw work again. 

"Really?" he blurted out.

"Yeah," Taichi said a little breathlessly, since he had said most of his mini-speech in one breath. 

Yamato sat in awed shock for a little while more, and then he shook himself. "Well, I hadn't been expecting that."

"What had you been expecting?" Taichi asked, smiling and sounding more light-hearted now that he had sorted his feelings out and told Yamato about them.

"I was expecting you to reject me, to tell you the truth."

"How could anyone reject _you_?" Taichi asked, sounding honestly surprised.

Yamato blushed at that and smiled, looking down at where Taichi had laced his fingers with Yamato's. 

"I still can't believe you like me."

"How anyone as beautiful as you can have such a low self-esteem, I'll never understand."

Yamato lightly slapped Taichi's arm. "Shut up."

"Are you sleeping over tonight?"

Yamato grinned. "He's my little brother. He'd be hurt if I didn't."

"I'm sleeping here, too," Taichi said, smirking and seeming more like himself.

Yamato raised an eyebrow. "Are you insinuating something?"

"Like what?" Taichi asked, lowering his voice to a purr.

Yamato shoved Taichi's shoulder. "Taichi!"

Taichi laughed and smiled at Yamato. "Will you sleep with me?"

"As in sleep next to you, or...?"

"Sleep next to me, of course. What do you take me for, a pervert?"

Yamato rolled his eyes and Taichi laughed again.

"Maybe," Yamato answered, looking up at the sky.

"Maybe I'm a pervert, or maybe you'll want to sleep next to me?" 

"Maybe I'll want to sleep next to you tonight," Yamato confirmed. 

Taichi grinned and looked at Yamato, who turned to look back at him. They gazed into each other's eyes for a little while, both starting to blush, and Yamato slowly leant forward to close his eyes and kiss Taichi. Taichi kissed back, sliding his hands into Yamato's hair the way he had before in his dreams.

Their kiss was broken when car headlights suddenly illuminated them. They turned to stare through squinted eyes at the car driving into the paved driveway. Yamato recognized it as his father's car and his eyes widened. 

He leapt to his feet and walked towards it, Taichi following him carefully. His father rolled his window down and Yamato walked to stand in front of it. 

"Hey, dad," Yamato said uneasily. He was pretty sure his father had seen that kiss and wasn't sure what his dad's opinion would be.

His father handed him a backpack of his clothes and smirked at him. "There, you're all set for the sleepover." He turned to look at Taichi. "Hello, Taichi."

"Er, hey Mr. Ishida."

Yamato smiled nervously as his father shifted his gaze back to his son. 

"You stay out of trouble, okay? Don't stay up too late."

He turned to look at Taichi again. "Don't hurt my son's feelings, you hear? Heh, you two look good together."

He waved goodbye to them both and proceeded to back out of the driveway, leaving the two boys staring after him. They were both stunned by the easy reaction. 

"Well, that was easier than I'd expected," Yamato said, reaching a hand up to scratch his head.

"I always knew your dad was a rather tolerant guy."

"My dad?" Yamato asked, sounding surprised and turning to look at Taichi.

Taichi nodded. Yamato turned back to look at the retreating lights of the car driving off into the distance. He had been expecting his father to yell at him for making yet another mistake. He shook his head slowly and turned around.

"Let's go back inside."

Taichi watched as Yamato slowly turned to walk towards the front door. Taichi slowly followed him into the house, not really wanting to leave the nice, calm atmosphere outside. 

~ ~ ~ ~

Meanwhile, inside the comfort of the house, everyone was falling asleep. The people who weren't sleeping over were getting ready to leave. They said goodbye to each of their friends as they left, and pretty soon only Takeru, Taichi, Yamato, Jyou, Koushirou, Daisuke, and Ken were in the house. 

They began discussing who would sleep where.

"Jyou and Koushirou must sleep together in one room or something drastic will happen to the nice host," Koushirou announced. 

"Okay, got that," Takeru said carefully. "You two can share the guest room. Try not to make too much noise, okay? There will be other people in the house, you know. I won't have you traumatizing my guests."

"Deal," Jyou said, and then the pair ran off to find said guest room. 

Takeru sighed and turned to the rest. "I'm guessing you two want to room together, as well," he said to his brother and Taichi.

"Yes, we do," Yamato said, nodding. 

"You can sleep here on the couches, then, because you are not getting my bed and my room," Takeru said, grinning. Taichi and Yamato looked at each other, their faces falling. 

"The _couch_?" 

"And you two can sleep in my room with me, because I actually trust you not to rape me," Takeru told Daisuke and Ken. Takeru paused and gave Daisuke another look. "Or at least I hope you won't."

"You can't rape the willing," Daisuke shot back.

Takeru glared at him and turned to walk to his room. "I'm going to bed. Do not wake me up, because I'm not a morning person, and I never wake happily."

Daisuke and Ken turned to give each other looks, grinned, and walked after the blonde. 

"It's as if he doesn't trust us," Ken said, sounding amused.

"I know, it's so unfair," Daisuke replied.

Taichi watched them close Takeru's door behind them and turned to smile at Yamato. Yamato was arranging the pillows on the couch he had chosen for himself. There wasn't much room for two people to sleep on one couch, so Taichi guessed he'd have to wait for another chance to sleep with Yamato, side-by-side. 

He walked to the other couch and began fixing it up for him to sleep on. Yamato sat down on his and looked up to watch Taichi. 

When Taichi had finished, he turned to see Yamato's smile. He smiled back and walked over to Yamato's couch. He sat down beside the blonde and slid his arms around the boy's waist, resting his head on his shoulder. Yamato wrapped his arms around Taichi and stroked the other boy's arm, closing his eyes.

"We could have done this sooner," Taichi said quietly, "if I wasn't so stupid."

Yamato opened his mouth to say he didn't think Taichi was stupid, but he realized how typical that action would have been, and decided to remain quiet and instead _show_ Taichi that he disagreed.

He ran his fingers through Taichi's surprisingly soft hair and nuzzled Taichi's neck. 

"Tai, no matter what we have to deal with, what we're put through, and what happens to us, I'll still have feelings for you. No matter what faults develop, what hidden problems are uncovered, or what mistakes we make, I'll still have feelings for you."

Taichi smiled sadly and laced his fingers through Yamato's. 

"Don't make promises you aren't sure you can keep," he said softly.

Yamato tilted Taichi's face towards him and looked deep into his eyes. "I'll try my hardest to keep it."

Taichi's eyes held something like a knowing sadness and excitement for what was to come for them, but he decided that he'd risk it all just to stay with this boy. 

The heartbreak, the tears, the conflicts, and the moments of blissful peace and happiness...they'd all be worth it.

Taichi slowly raised himself and walked to his own couch. He lay down and shifted around to become comfortable enough to drift off into sleep. Yamato did the same and stretched his arm out to the lamp on the table at one end of his couch. 

"Goodnight, Taichi," he whispered.

"Goodnight, Yamato," Taichi whispered back.

Yamato turned the lamp off and settled down on the couch. In the darkness, he gazed at Taichi's still body. He smiled when Taichi shifted and the moonlight filtering in through the window bathed over his face. Yamato thought about Taichi's confusing feelings towards himself and wondered what the brunette really thought inside of his head. He seemed like he did have feelings for Yamato, but was reluctant to have an actual relationship with the blonde. Yamato wondered if Taichi had bad experiences with love, and decided to ask Taichi about it when he was in a more easygoing mood. He smiled and closed his eyes, nuzzling into his pillow. 

  
He decided that he would make Taichi's insecurities go away and show him that love is supposed to be both beautiful and tragic, but well worth their time. He was pretty sure he'd be able to handle getting into a relationship that could be quite troubling in the beginning. He wanted to be with Taichi, and he'd take good care of the boy, and that was all that mattered. He would melt away any lingering doubts the brunette boy might have and help exterminate any inner demons that threatened to hurt the relationship. He had his own demons to take care of, but it shouldn't be too much trouble. 

The course of true love never did run smooth. 

Yamato was willing to stick through the bumpy ride. He opened his eyes to take in Taichi's sleeping figure one last time before he drifted off to sleep. 

"Come what may," he whispered to himself. 

Luckily, the guest bedroom's atmosphere was relatively calm and no noise pierced through the air. Takeru's bedroom held slightly more activity, but that was because the three boys within couldn't settle on who got to sleep in Takeru's bed and who had to sleep on the floor, for only two fit in the bed. In the end, Takeru slept on the floor and Daisuke and Ken slept soundly in the bed, though both were a little put out because the whole idea of fighting for the bed was to see who got to sleep next to Takeru.

A few minutes later, Takeru's mother entered the house, carrying the bags she had taken on her little "business trip". She was a little surprised at finding the two boys sleeping on the couch, but then remembered Takeru's little party had been a sleepover as well. She set her bags down on the floor and slowly moved towards where Yamato lay on his couch. 

She gazed down at her son and frowned as she remembered their earlier argument. She knew Yamato had not meant what he had said, but it had still hurt her feelings. She missed Yamato so much more than she let on, and she couldn't help but worry about how he was being treated back at home. It wasn't that she didn't trust her ex-husband, but she knew that he could be a little cold towards people, and she suspected that Yamato was somewhat ignored in his home. 

Yamato opened his eyes and gave his mother a confused look. "Mom...what are you doing?"

She smiled a bit and reached a hand out to rest on her son's head. Yamato moved his head away from her touch and winced slightly. She bit her lip and pulled her hand back, hanging her head slightly. 

"You know, Yamato, I still love you as my son," she said quietly.

Yamato hid his face from view and sighed deeply. 

"I love you too, Mom."

She nodded quickly, even though he couldn't see her, and she quickly walked back to the door to pick up her bags. 

"Well, I'm going to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow morning. Sweet dreams, Yamato."

"See you, Mom."

She walked to her room and closed the door behind her. She left her bags at the door and walked to her bed, arms spread. "Oh, my own bed..."

She threw herself across the bed and lay still for a while, breathing in the familiar scent. She smiled. She'd thought that Taichi was the one Yamato had a crush on, and seeing the way he'd glanced at Taichi while she was talking to him had confirmed it for her. 

She settled down to sleep, getting lost in her dreams, the way everyone else in the house now was. 

That night, Yamato dreamt about nicer things than he'd been dreaming about lately, and Taichi's dreams seemed a lot more realistic than they had before, now that he knew the things in his dreams could actually happen in reality. 

Yamato did not know what would happen to him, Taichi, or any of his friends in the future, but one thing was known for sure: He would never give up on Taichi, and he would never let him go.

~ ~ ~ ~

A/N: And here is where my crying begins. Skip this and go right to the review box if you don't care about my writing and why this fic has become such a burden to me. It's a rather long author's note, but I'd like it if someone responded to some of the things I bring up, because I do need some opinions on some things. Now then...

How could I write this horribly?! What the hell happened to me?! Ikky, where are you, you miserable little...gah, don't do this to me. -_-' Right, let me explain now...this chapter was done incredibly horribly and revoltingly because my motivation for writing this fic is down in the negative numbers somewhere. Uh...I can't write this anymore. Ikky's pissed off at me because I've rewritten this chapter around five times and never was satisfied so he went on "strike" and I don't know where the hell he's gone off to. My sudden lack of reviews got me sad about my writing and now I just wish my own muse wasn't also abandoning me. Blah. At least the story's over! Yes! I can move on to another one now, hopefully one that works with me much better. Geez, I've never before written a story I totally wanted to just stop writing. Anyways, we can all just forget this and move on, after I say a few things regarding my plans for now.

I want to write a Kenkeru. I don't know, I just really do. This couple has suddenly become so appealing to me, and I know it's weird because Daisuke is my favorite person to pair with people, but I just do want to have an actual fic with the main pairing as Kenkeru. I don't know if I should make it a one-shot or a chaptered fic, but I'm not sure if I know the couple enough to write them successfully in a chaptered fic. 

I'm also planning a humor/fluff fic, which I think I should make a Daiken, in which they've just gotten into a relationship and are trying to explore the things that couples do, while everyone else is insisting on "helping" them. 

I've been wanting to use Wallace in a fic, too. I don't know why, but I think it would be cute. Eh, why not?

Ah, a thing that has been bugging me very much: Why has no one reviewed my Takori? O.o' Do I write Takori that badly? I thought I had written it rather well! And I wrote it for someone special to me, too. x.x' I figured maybe no one had seen it when it got uploaded...so I'm going to do a little shameless plugging here and ask you all (if you're still here and reading this) to please read and review my Takori, Come Out On The Streets And Dance With Me (yes, a very long title). 

And my last little note (thank God): I am scrapping my two not-yet-uploaded Yamasukes. Yeah, even the one with the Nirvana songs. I can't get into it anymore. I need to start something new. They will never see the light of day. (Which isn't too bad...because they weren't that good, except as angst-beasts.)

Now that I'm done ranting and raving, I'll leave you to your peace.


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